Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Authorities investigating trail of blood beneath the Water Street Bridge.
Members of the Germania Hose Company Dive Team search the Susquehanna River near Riverfront Park in Pittston near where a blood stain was discovered Saturday morning.
BILL TARUTIS/For The Times Leader
State police search the Susquehanna River and Riverfront Park near the Water Street Bridge in Pittston after a blood stain was discovered Saturday morning.
BILL TARUTIS/For The Times Leader
Law enforcement personnel investigate an apparent crime scene at Riverfront Park in Pittston Saturday morning.
BILL TARUTIS/For The Times Leader
A State Trooper removes a high-heeled boot at the sight of an apparent crime scene in the Riverfront Park in Pittston Saturday.
BILL TARUTIS/For The Times Leader
PITTSTON — Local and state authorities are investigating an apparent crime scene discovered Saturday morning beneath the Water Street Bridge.
Authorities found a stripe of blood about 6 inches wide crossing a concrete footpath in Riverfront Park. The trail of blood led across the path and disappeared into the soaked ground on the bank of the Susquehanna River.
Luzerne County District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll said her office is assisting Pittston City and state police in “investigating what appears to be a crime scene under the Water Street Bridge.”
She was with investigators at the state police barracks in Wyoming nearly 12 hours after the initial report to county 911 by a passerby calling on a cell phone who discovered the blood stains.
“There’s nothing that has changed,” said Musto Carroll. “We’re treating it as a crime scene.”
Two police officers returned to the scene around 7:40 p.m. and used flashlights to search the area. They declined to comment on what they were looking for.
The scene is a few blocks from Gabriel House, a former convent and school on William Street converted into transitional housing for women.
Musto Carroll declined to say whether that was part of the investigation. Msgr. John Bendik, pastor of the St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic church next to Gabriel House, also declined comment.
“We’re following up on all leads and trying to get a handle on what we have,” said Musto Carroll.
Earlier in the day a dive team conducted a search of the river near the blood stained path. At that time Musto Carroll said investigators were not sure if there was a body in the water.
County Coroner John Corcoran said that his office has not been contacted by authorities.
State and city police had roped off the area around the blood stains as well as a large area beneath the bridge and the steps leading down to the park while investigators gathered evidence at the scene including what appeared to be a woman’s boot.
Investigators took down the tape and left the scene at approximately 1:30 p.m., after calling in the Pittston Fire Department to hose down the blood-stained footpath.