Victim had been suffering from dementia.
By: David Campbell
A 75-year-old Princeton Township man suffering from dementia was found dead on an ice floe in Stony Brook Monday morning after he was reported missing from his residence on Route 206.
Police said that around 2:30 a.m. Monday, Virginia Dingwall reported that her husband, Andrew, had gotten out of bed an hour or more earlier and had not returned.
Mr. Dingwall reportedly was wearing only a gray sweat suit and gray socks.
Police searched the house and the immediate area of the Dingwalls’ residence, which is located south of the Stony Brook bridge on Route 206, without success.
Footprints were found leading from the house to Stony Brook, which flows behind the residence, but were lost in the mud near the stream, police said.
At about 7:25 a.m., Mr. Dingwall was seen by township police Sgt. Judd Petrone lying in the brook on an ice floe with the lower half of his body dangling in the water, but the officer was unable to reach Mr. Dingwall, who was unresponsive, police said.
Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad was called to the scene. Rescuers eventually reached Mr. Dingwall on the ice, where he was pronounced dead at 8:05 a.m., police said.
His body was removed to the Mercer County Medical Examiner’s Office, police said.

