Newtown Man’s Body Found In Woods

Police report that on the afternoon of Sunday, July 20, a local adult resident, while riding a horse in a steep, wooded area behind Sand Hill Plaza, encountered the body of a dead man in the woods.

Police later identified the deceased as Stephen J. Selezan, 20, of Newtown.

The unidentified equestrian contacted police. Town police and the state police’s major crime squad went to the scene to investigate the suspicious death, police said.

Following an investigation at the scene, which lasted several hours, the decomposed body was transported to the Chief State Medical Examiner’s Office in Farmington for an autopsy to positively identify the remains and determine the manner and means of death, according to police.

A spokeswoman for the medical examiner said July 22 that Mr Selezan’s death was ruled a suicide caused by traumatic asphyxiation due to hanging.

Stephen Selezan attended Newtown schools and graduated from Newtown High School with the Class of 2001. He was in his second year at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island. He was a former State of Connecticut Class L champion wrestler. While in high school, he was captain of the wrestling team for three years.