Created: Friday, August 15, 2008 12:00 a.m. CDT
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Update:Coroner identifies man who apparently drowned in Fox River

By JONATHAN BILYK - jbilyk@kcchronicle.com

AURORA – A man found Wednesday in the Fox River in Aurora was identified as Nicholas J. Clark, 50, of Aurora, Kane County Coroner Charles West said.

Preliminary results of an autopsy today show Clark died of drowning. Toxicology results will take a few weeks, officials said.

Aurora Police Sgt. Tom Kearbey said police believe Clark was homeless. "We have not been able to confirm it, but that's the way it appears," Kearbey said.

Kearbey and a coroner's office spokeswoman said there are no obvious signs of foul play.

The coroner's office and Aurora police are cooperating in an on-going investigation.

About 2 p.m. Wednesday, a 911 call was placed by security personnel at the casino, indicating that they had spotted what appeared to be a human body along a maintenance gangway running between the casino pavilion and a floating barge, police said.

A dive team from the Aurora Fire Department responded and recovered what police described as a “partially decomposed body.”

Aurora Police spokesman Dan Ferrelli said the body appeared to have been in the river “for at least a period of several days.”

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