LAKEWOOD -- Authorities are investigating the death of a person found in a Lakewood park on Tuesday and believed to be a teen missing since Sunday.
The body was found in Lake Shenandoah County Park in Lakewood by a woman walking her dog at 2:15 p.m., said Al Della Fave, spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.
Lakewood Detective Lt. Gregory Staffordsmith said the person is believed to be Elibit Mena, 18, of Lakewood, whose mother reported him missing on Sunday evening when he didn't return home after going to the park to meet up with friends.
When police arrived at the park Wednesday afternoon, they found the body lying in a wooded area off Arlington Avenue, Staffordsmith said.
Investigators are treating it as a suspicious death, Della Fave said.
His mother found his car parked in the South Clover Street parking lot of Shenandoah Park on Sunday but no one was inside, police have said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office at 732-929-2027.
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