Members of the Cumberland Fire Department stage on the Blackstone River Bikeway, near the Route 295 overpass, with their rescue boat Saturday afternoon. A body, reportedly that of a female, was recovered from the river. Call Photo/Dennis Malboeuf

By DANI ELLE BRISSETTE

CUMBERLAND — A jogger on the Blackstone River Bikeway reportedly came upon a gruesome discovery Saturday afternoon. Around 3:30 p.m. Saturday, a body was spotted floating in the river, just below the Interstate 295 overpass.

Police and rescue personnel from Cumberland and Lincoln responded to the entrance of the bike path on Front Street, while members of the Cumberland Hill Fire Department launched their rescue boat from behind Highland Falls Condominiums in Albion to retrieve the body. The state medical examiner responded to the scene. An autopsy is expected be conducted on Monday.
Authorities, news cameras and onlookers filled the parking lot at The River Lofts at Ashton Mill on Front Street, Saturday afternoon as police and rescue teams worked to recover the body from the river, about 300 feet from the building’s rear right parking complex. Bicyclists, walkers and joggers were notified by Cumberland Police that the bike path had been closed due to a police matter.
Police said Saturday evening that information would be issued within the next few days pertaining to the identity of the victim, as well as the cause of death. But, according to Police Chief John Desmarais, the body was that of a female and it appeared to have been in the river for about four days to a week. There were no signs of trauma, according to the chief.
Although officials from both the Cumberland and Woonsocket police departments declined to comment, there is some speculation that the body could be that of Woonsocket resident Diane Derosier, who has been reported missing since Feb. 21.
According to previous Call reports, Derosier, 50, of 119 Chester St., was last seen at that time by the person she had been living with at that address, according to police.
Derosier’s friend reported her missing after she failed to come home for two a days and told police she had never stayed out all night or gone a day without checking in with him, police said.
Derosier’s friend told police he was concerned for Derosier’s safety and as a result filed the report.
Derosier had been living with Al Casavant at his camp on the Blackstone River last summer and fall but had not been living with him recently, police said.
The couple was evicted from their tent site on the riverbank after Derosier filed a domestic assault complaint against Casavant that ultimately prompted the Police Department to have the river-bank campsite leveled by a city front-end loader.
Derosier’s friend told police he had heard she had been in the downtown area on Feb. 22, but he was not able to locate her.