A decomposing body discovered Thursday morning in a fishing crew’s nets approximately 40 miles off the Massachusetts coast has been identified as a woman in her 60s who had been embalmed, according to an update from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that the body, which had numerous cancerous tumors, showed no signs of foul play and was consistent with a burial at sea. Due to the embalmed state of the remains, authorities believe identification is unlikely.
Detectives from the DA’s office and the U.S. Coast Guard initially responded to the fishing vessel at a Boston dock on Thursday after the crew reported pulling the body up in their nets approximately 40 miles offshore. At the time, officials described the body as “wrapped and in a state of decomposition,” with no immediate indicators of identity or cause of death.
With the medical examiner’s findings ruling out suspicious circumstances, the DA’s office has closed the case.
