WILKES-BARRE — A day after a body was discovered on a slope next to the North Cross Valley Expressway, the people involved in the retrieval stayed silent on Wednesday.
Luzerne County Coroner Jill Matthews said, “it is an active investigation” and did not say whether an autopsy was being planned or had been carried out.
Matthews took the body from the slope in a wooded area near the southbound Exit 1 (Route 315) ramp and behind the Host Inn All Suites Hotel on Tuesday afternoon.
Before removing the body, trees and branches were cut to create easier access, and improvised steps were fixed into the ground with metal spikes.
The improvised steps, spikes, a shovel, and a rake were still at the scene on Wednesday.
Wilkes-Barre Police Chief Joseph Coffay, present at the scene on Tuesday with city police detectives, detectives from the Luzerne County district attorney’s office, and the state police at Wilkes-Barre, Troop P, Forensic Services Unit, did not reply to questions sent via email.
