On August 6, New Jersey police received a call from a woman saying that she saw a man hanging from a tree in Lafayette Park in Jersey City.
According to the Daily Nation, the man is 61-year-old Kenyan-native Jeffrey Kilibwa.
According to Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Gene Rubino, the police arrived on scene and discovered Kilibwa’s body suspended from a tree on the west side of the park. Kilibwa was immediately taken to Jersey City Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Although the police say they did not suspect it was murder, Kililbwa’s hands were found tied behind his back.
“His hands were bound with a rope. That’s not how people hang themselves. We must know the truth” said Nelson Mogesha, a long time friend of Kililbwa, to the Daily Nation.
Mogesha also told the Daily Nation that Kilibwa was relieved of his job in the city mall and and that it “weighed heavily on him”. According to Mogesha, Kilibwa was also held at the Livingston Police Station the day before he died after walking the streets with “a confused state of mind.”
UPDATE:
Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office spokeman Gene Rubino told the AmNews that the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
Rubino also said that the medical examiner found no evidence that the hands were bound or that there was any trauma to the body. Full results from the medical examiner are still pending however. Rubino would not answer if there was rope found at the scene or around the deceased man’s hands.
Rubino also confirmed that a name or the identity of the man has not been released.