Death on tracks in Pennington was apparent suicide

Man has been identified as John Kevin Connell of 180 Clearview Ave. in Hamilton

By John Tredrea
   The macabre death of a 44-year-old Hamilton man on the railroad tracks in Pennington on Wednesday afternoon "appears to be a suicide," the county prosecutor’s office said this afternoon, Thursday.
   The dead man has been identified as John Kevin Connell of 180 Clearview Ave. in Hamilton.
   Angelo Onefri, spokesman for the county prosecutor’s office, said Mr. Connell was identified by his fingerprints.
   "Mr. Connell was reported missing this morning (Thursday) by his wife, Valerie Coates," Mr. Onefri said.
   He added that an autopsy by Chief Medical Examiner Raafat Ahmad had determined that "massive trauma" was the cause of Mr. Connell’s death.
   The apparent suicide occurred at 2:40 p.m. Wednesday about 50 feet north of the West Delaware Avenue bridge in Pennington. The bridge is midway between The Pennington School and the Pennington Market.
   Pennington and Hopewell Township police, the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department officers, state police, and CSX investigators gathered at the scene around 3 p.m. Wednesday.
   A wallet, which looked like it had been recently dropped, was found just under the bridge, according to a police source.
   The train struck the man at the Delaware Avenue overpass, Gary Sease — a spokesman for the Jacksonville, Fla.-based CSX — said Wednesday afternoon. The 22-car train, pulled by two locomotives, was traveling from Philadelphia to South Kearny and was carrying truck trailers and containers, he said.
   CSX Corp. owns companies providing rail, intermodal and rail-to-truck transload services, as well as more than 200 short line railroads.
   On Nov. 11, another CSX train struck and killed 17-year-old Manville High School senior Keith Miranda. He had been walking home from a friend’s house at 1:37 a.m. near Kyle Street and Railroad Place in Manville when he was struck.
   About 100 Manville High School students gathered Wednesday morning at Christ the King R.C. Church to mourn and say goodbye to their classmate.