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Man’s body found in vehicle pulled from Muskegon River

Posted at 4:38 PM, Jan 07, 2016
and last updated 2016-01-07 16:38:25-05

UPDATE: The Newaygo County Sheriffs Department on Friday said it appeared the incident was a suicide.

NEWAYGO COUNTY, Mich. -- A man's body was discovered inside a vehicle that was pulled from the Muskegon River on Thursday morning.

According to the Newaygo County Sheriff's Department, officials were called to the river near the Croton Dam at about 9:24 a.m.

covered a submerged vehicle, and a police dive team discovered the body of a white man inside, according to a release.

FOX 17 spoke with Jay Allen, a local fisherman, who describes his day on the Muskegon River as "unusual" after finding the red-colored SUV.

"We were boating upstream with our client and noticed a ripple in the river that’s usually not there. We were about a hundred yards out," Allen said.

"As we got closer, we could see a big bright red truck under the river."

SUVAllen said he took a picture of the vehicle under water and decided to post it on Instagram a few hours later.

"This would be a horrible way to die, slide down the ramp and know your doors were sealed," Allen said. "This ramp is extremely slippery, no one really launches a boat here in the winter because it’s always slick."

There was some damage to the vehicles passenger side, however, Allen told FOX 17 its windshield looked in tact.

The man's identity has not been released.