PITTSBURGH — Police are investigating the circumstances leading to the death of an Ocean County middle school teacher.

The body of Drew Camoosa, 48, from Little Egg Harbor was pulled from the Ohio River near the Emsworth Locks and Dams, near Pittsburgh, around 10:30 a.m. Monday after being spotted face down in the river, according to Allegheny County Police. Camoosa was pronounced dead at the scene.

A statement from Southern Regional School District superintendent Craig Henry, obtained by TAP into Stafford/LBI, said Camoosa had been on medical leave since January 2018, and offered support for his wife and children. Payroll records show Camoosa had been a social studies teacher at Southern Regional Middle School for 20 years.

A post on the RBC Dearly Departed Facebook page said he was a member of the Red Bank Catholic graduating class of 1989.

Unnamed police sources told CBS Pittsburgh that Camoosa's family believed him to be suicidal and had reported him as missing. Port Authority Police in Pittsburgh previously spotted Camoosa walking along railroad tracks, and he was involuntarily committed to the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic for a 72-hour hold. Fourteen hours after being taken to the facility, he was found in the river.

Allegheny Police asked anyone with information concerning this incident to call their tipline at 1-833-ALL-TIPS (1-833-255-8477).

 

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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