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Body of white male retrieved from Tonawanda Creek near Kibbe Park this afternoon

By Billie Owens

The body of an as-yet-unidentified white male was retrieved from Tonawanda Creek this afternoon, but police officials have little other information to provide the public at this point.

Around 2:30 p.m., authorities received a call about a possible body in the creek near Kibbe Park. City police and fire, Sheriff's deputies, a rep from the District Attorney's Office, and a county Coroner, converged at the scene, described as the embankment near where the creek curves by the park.

They confirmed a dead body, dressed in shorts, a T-shirt, no shoes. There was no canoe, boat, kayak or other vessel around, "but nothing's off the table at this point," said Batavia Police Det. Eric Hill.

"I couldn't even tell you an age," Hill said. "Looks like he may have been in there awhile, but we don't have an exact time on how long it was. ... We won't know until the autopsy comes back officially. ... We'll probably have more information on that tomorrow or Monday, depending on when the autopsy takes place -- possibly who he is or what the cause of death is."

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