Police say they are waiting for autopsy results on the remains of a man found in the Cornwallis River in New Minas Thursday morning.
At around 10 a.m., a municipal employee spotted the body in the river at the end of Jones Road, near the sewage treatment facility.
RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Jennifer Clarke said it’s too early to say whether the remains are those of Joshawa Bentley of North Kentville, who has been missing since March 23. But, she said, Bentley’s family has been notified of the discovery.
The RCMP are working with Kentville police on the investigation into the discovery, she said. Kentville was handling the Bentley disappearance because he was last seen in the town.
Clarke said she’s not sure how long it will take for the autopsy results to come in.
New Minas firefighters were called to help retrieve the remains, which were discovered a couple of hours before high tide. The tide was higher than usual Thursday morning.
Clarke said police cleared the scene after the remains were removed.
There were no obvious signs of foul play, she said, but added that the medical examiner would make the final report on that.
“We have not made a determination into any criminality at this time,” she said.
Bentley, 29, was last seen at the King’s Arms pub in Kentville at 10:30 p.m. March 23. He was reported missing to Kentville police the next evening
Police, search and rescue volunteers and firefighters initially looked along the river as a precaution because Bentley would have had to cross the bridge spanning the river in Kentville on his way home.
The search intensified after security footage from the Kentville courthouse showed him near the river. A helicopter, boat, ground teams and a Department of National Defence boat with sonar were all used to look for Bentley without success in the two weeks after he disappeared.
The river is murky, muddy and has strong and high tides off the Minas Basin.
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