The First Woman Muslim Judge In The US Was Found Dead In A New York River
Photo courtesy of Twitter.
Photo courtesy of Twitter.
Authorities believe Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam drowned herself in the Hudson River.
In a report from the New York Daily News, New York City's medical examiner's office ruled Wednesday that Abdus-Salaam's drowning in April was a suicide.
The judge's death had initially been ruled as a suicide, with early autopsy results on Abdus-Salaam coming back as inconclusive. This led the New York Police Department to describe her death as "suspicious." Ultimately, after finding no signs of criminality, the police closed its investigation on May 3.
READ: NYPD Is Now Ruling Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam's Death As 'Suspicious'
The discovery of surveillance footage showing Abdus-Salaam walking throughout Harlem before ultimately entering the Riverbank State Park is what has led authorities to believe she committed suicide. As the Daily News reports:
Cops obtained security video that showed her on W. 131st St. in Harlem at 8:30 p.m. on April 11, The News previously reported. Detectives later found footage that showed her seven additional times over the next few hours walking on Seventh Ave. between W. 131st St. and W. 145th St., sources said. She was captured one final time on camera entering the W. 145th St. entrance of Riverbank State Park around 12:30 a.m. on April 12, the sources said. Officials believe she was headed toward the river.
Abdus-Salaam's body was found about a half-mile south of Riverbank State Park at 1:30 p.m. April 12. Some, such as Abdus-Salaam's husband, Rev. Gregory Jacobs, has dismissed the notion that his wife killed herself.
"Those of us who loved (Sheila) and knew her well do not believe that these unfounded conclusions have any basis in reality," Jacobs said shortly after her death.
Abdus-Salaam was the first black woman to serve on the state's highest court. Prior to that, she served as a Manhattan Supreme Court judge for 14 years.
Source: nydailynews.com
