Decomposed body found in Glenville creek

PHOTOGRAPHER: Peter R. Barber

The remains of a badly decomposed body is brought to the banks of a culvert on Freeman's Bridge Road in Glenville Wednesday, November 5, 2014.

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A heavily decomposed body covered in silt was found in Horseman’s Creek off Freemans Bridge Road on Wednesday.

Glenville police worked with the state police forensic unit to remove the body from the creek area, and an autopsy will be performed Friday to try to identify the remains.

Glenville police Lt. Steve Janik said the autopsy, originally scheduled for Thursday, was rescheduled because the medical examiner at Albany Medical Center is currently overwhelmed with other autopsies. The examiner wants to be able to take his time on the autopsy, Janik said.

Police found the body around noon Wednesday. The creek, a tributary of the Mohawk River, runs between the Sky Port Diner and Trustco Center on Freemans Bridge Road just south of Maple Avenue.

State Police Inv. Gloria Coppola said the body could be that of Craig Frear, who was last seen June 27, 2004, walking on a footpath toward railroad tracks by Cambridge Manor, a short walk from his Glenville home. The Scotia-Glenville student was 17.

“We are certainly going to look for missing people who would match the description, and Craig is one of them because of the close proximity to Cambridge Manor,” said Coppola, who has led the search for Frear. “This could be anybody, and we’re hoping that after that autopsy we’ll have a better idea, and that will be tomorrow.”

Police located the body after a surveyor reported Wednesday seeing something suspicious in the area of the creek that runs beneath Freemans Bridge Road, Glenville police Chief Michael Ranalli said. A gender was not released.

“There’s some silt covering it, and it’s pretty decomposed,” Ranalli said Wednesday afternoon. “They are going to have to very carefully bag the body and remove anything surrounding it.”

As police prepared to remove the body, Joanna Dewey, whose family owns the Sky Port Diner, said crime in the area has been limited to the occasional break-in at the diner or a theft from an unlocked car.

“I think it’s freaky,” she said.

Dewey, who also lives next to the creek, said she adopted a stray beagle about a month ago, and the dog has been attracted to the creek area.

“She sniffs over there like mad,” she said. “She wants to just keep going over there, and I sway her away because I’m thinking I don’t want her to get ticks.”

A photo of Frear hangs in her family’s diner. She wonders if the ongoing search for Frear could be coming to a close.

“I kind of wish it is him, only because,” she said, trailing off, “so they’ll know.”

Ranalli declined to speculate whether the body was that of Frear.

“We’re not going to even remotely speculate that right now,” he said. “[State police] have been very thorough. I can’t tell you whether they have or have not checked right here.”

Coppola also did not know if the area had been checked during the search for Frear, which has included many areas along railroad tracks, culverts and places Frear used to frequent. In June, state police continued the annual search tradition, taking cadaver dogs through a wooded area between Maple Avenue and the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks near Alplaus Avenue after two new leads led them to the site.

Coppola said she talked to Frear’s parents, William and Veronica, on Wednesday, and they are “just on pins and needles” waiting to find out if the body is that of their son.

“They want answers for what happened 10 years ago, when Craig disappeared, but on the other hand, do they want it to end this way?” she said. “Hope for the family of a missing person would be that they took off and someday they’ll come home alive.”