Monroe Police Probe Death Of Newtown Girl

By Andrew Gorosko

MONROE — Monroe police are investigating what they term the “untimely death” of a 17-year-old female Newtown High School senior whose lifeless body was found floating in a small pond at the Northbrook Condominiums on Northbrook Drive off Route 25 on the morning of Sunday, May 30.

Monroe police Lieutenant Brian McCauley said this week that Monroe police are conducting an intensive investigation into the death of Danielle Jacobsen of Tunnel Road in Newtown. Lt McCauley oversees the Monroe police detective unit. Monroe police are being aided by Newtown police, Trumbull police, and Bridgeport state’s attorney’s office.

On June 1, Newtown police Captain Joe Rios, Lieutenant George Sinko, and Sergeant Domenic Costello met with Monroe police to discuss the investigation. Newtown Police Chief Michael Kehoe had no comment.

Ms Jacobsen, who was an honors student, was scheduled to graduate with Newtown High School’s Class of 2010 later this month.

At about 9:46 am on May 30, Monroe police were notified by Newtown police that Newtown police were looking for Ms Jacobsen, who had been reported missing to Newtown police at about 9:19 am that morning.

Ms Jacobsen’s last known location had been at a gathering at a residence in the area of Northbrook Drive, according to Monroe police.

Shortly thereafter, a passerby reported a “suspicious object” floating in a nearby pond, and following a police investigation, that object was determined to be the body of Ms Jacobsen, police said.

An autopsy on Ms Jacobsen’s remains was performed at the Chief State Medical Examiner’s Office in Farmington on May 31 to determine the manner and means of death. A spokeswoman said June 1 that the results of the autopsy are pending, requiring further medical study. The results of toxicology testing should be available in about seven weeks.

Lt McCauley said that the autopsy provided “no obvious cause of death.”

A man who answered the telephone at the Jacobsen residence on June 2 said that family members would not now have any comment on Ms Jacobsen’s death.

Lt McCauley said that initially, the passerby spotted the suspicious object floating in the pond and thought it might be a black plastic trash bag. The lieutenant noted that Ms Jacobsen had been wearing dark clothing and the pond’s surface appeared dark, making her body difficult to see floating in the water.

Police spent 13 hours investigating and collecting evidence at the scene, he said. Police collected much evidence, he said, declining, however, to describe that evidence.

Police are intensively investigating the situation, Lt McCauley stressed. “We’re putting every available resource into it,” he said.

It is unclear if there is a criminal aspect to the case or any foul play involved, he said, adding that police are characterizing the matter as an “untimely death.”

The lieutenant explained that before Ms Jacobsen’s body was found in the pond, she had last been seen at a gathering of fewer than ten people at a condo unit on nearby Stillmeadow Circle.

“We will uncover every stone, turn over every rock, to find out everything about this case that we can find out,” he said. The probe will proceed as quickly as possible, he said.

The lieutenant said that police are not naming any suspects in the case.