Paige Aiello Body Found? Authorities Find Body Near George Washington Bridge
The body of Paige Aiello, a student at the College of New Jersey, may have been found. Authorities recovered a body on the shore near West 158th Street, close to the George Washington Bridge where Aiello may have leapt to her death.
The medical examiner is using dental records to determine whether the body is actually that of Aiello, but sources told The New York Post that the body's description matched that of the college student. Aiello disappeared on April 9 and her purse and keys were found on the George Washington Bridge that same night.
Aiello was described as a perfectionist by friends and family, who feel that she may have been under a great deal of stress at the time she vanished.
"She has been all-conference (in tennis) and has been accepted into approximately nine law schools for next year," Aiello's father, Christopher, told WCBS. "It's maybe just too much. She had hit almost like a wall where she felt she was not maybe either worthy of all this or she just couldn't handle it."
"So the message that at least I've been saying all day is not only do we have to be watching our children that are not doing well and getting in trouble, but we have to see and watch the kids that are the over-achievers. They have a self-imposed stress. She did express stress," he confirmed.
Even though no one reported seeing a person jump from the George Washington Bridge, it is a notorious spot for those wanting to end their lives. Last year a student from Rutgers University, Tyler Clementi, jumped from the bridge after being exposed as homosexual by a fellow student.
The entire College of New Jersey has been left wondering what happened to Aiello and what could have led her to possibly take her own life.
"I think everyone's just so shocked and confused," Cathy Goncalves, a senior, told NBC New York.