NYPD Says the Death of the First Black Woman on New York's Highest Court Is Being Investigated as Suspicious
The NYPD has expanded the investigation into the mysterious and sudden death of Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam, the first Black female judge on New York’s highest court. On Tuesday, detectives obtained surveillance video of Abdus-Salaam walking down the street the night before her body was found in the Hudson River, reported ABC 7 NY.
According to New York detectives, the video shows Abdus-Salaam walking toward the river in her Harlem neighborhood on the evening of April 11. Detectives are working to put her last moments together to figure out how and why she ended up in the river.
In the 1 o’clock hour of April 12, Abdus-Salaam’s body washed up on shore near West 132nd Street.
At first, several media outlets reported her death appeared to be a suicide. However, the NYPD is investigating her death as “suspicious.”
"We're looking it at as a suspicious death at this point. We haven't found any clear indications of criminality, but at this point we can't say for sure. We're hoping if anyone could shed any light into the hours before her disappearance, it would help us establish what happened," NYPD spokesman Stephen Davis said.