Fisherman pulls out dead man's body from Central Park lake

Getty Images
Kit Heren25 September 2020

A fisherman has said he was shocked to find himself reeling in a dead body from lake in New York.

Luis Castoire said he was fishing in Harlem Meer, at the north-eastern corner of Central Park, when he felt something heavy on the end of his line.

"I thought I was seeing a ghost. I felt a thump, my hook had gotten stuck... When I go to lift it, I seen the leg come up, and then I saw the rest of the body," he told NBC.

Mr Castoire said he was so scared by what he saw that he dropped his catch and ran away.

"It was devastating, really devastating. I couldn't believe it with my own eyes, I just couldn't," he added.

Harlem Meer, near where the body was found
Google Street View

He and other fishermen called the police. The victim, believed to be in his 30s, has yet to be identified but had suffered a head wound, officers said.

The circumstances of his death remains unclear and a police investigation is underway.

Mr Castoire, who has been fishing since the age of seven, said he would not be coming back to fish at Harlem Meer.

"I don't think I could be able to come back to this park. This is like my backyard. I don't think personally I could come back to this park and be able to fish here, knowing that I hooked up into a body," he said.

This incident is the third time this month that a body has been found in Central Park.

A man in his late fifties was found dead on September 18, and another man was found floating in a near 59th Street on September 7.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in