Fugitive who fled into Newark sewer still missing after nearly 2 weeks

Harrison Police believe 31-year-old Keith Jean managed to escape, after he swam across the Passaic River to the Newark side and entered a storm water discharge pipe on Aug. 3

NEWARK -- Nearly two weeks since he fled into the Newark sewer system after swimming across the Passaic River, a fugitive has yet to be found, and police say he may have made his way out and slipped away undetected.

"Its our deep belief that he escaped," said Lt. David Doyle, a spokesman for the Harrison Police Department, which is leading the hunt for the missing man.

The fugitive, Keith Jean, 31, of Roselle, was a passenger in a car pulled over by Harrison Police at about 1 p.m., on Aug. 3, in the area of a parking near the river under the Route 280 overpass where several vehicle break-ins had occurred recently.

The driver was arrested on outstanding warrants, but police said Jean ran to the nearby riverbank and jumped in, then swam toward the opposite bank. Doyle said there were also warrants for Jean's arrest for offenses out of Union and Essex counties, though he did not specify the offenses.

Once across the river, authorities say Jean entered a large pipe known as an outflow where, during heavy rains, a mix of storm water and sewage is discharged into the river to prevent the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission's Newark treatment plant from being overwhelmed.    

Officials say the sewer system is a warren of dark, often cramped spaces, with deadly gases hanging in the air, harmful bacteria and chemicals lining the surfaces, and a steady flow of human waste that fluctuates depending on the occasion and time of day.

Newark Police immediately staked out nearby manholes and, assisted by sewerage commission workers, used a robot and cameras to search the system for Jean, without success. And 24 hours after the desperate flight, Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said he feared Jean would not survive the noxious underground ordeal.

On Tuesday, Ambrose said cadaver dogs had also been brought in to sniff out Jean's remains, and likewise found nothing.  

But nearly two weeks later, police and sewerage commission officials said there still had been no trace of Jean or his body. Likewise, no one close to him has come forward to inquire about him.

"We haven't heard from anybody," said Doyle, suggesting Jean may have assured any loved ones that he was still alive. "Family, friends. But there hasn't been a single phone call."

Apart from Newark, Doyle said Harrison detectives had been in touch with other departments in relevant jurisdictions, including Roselle, where Jean lived, without any sign of him.

Doyle said this was not the first time a suspect had tried to flee Harrison police by jumping into the river, or even by entering a sewer, though it may turn out to be one of the few successful attempts.

Doyle recalled one incident several years ago, when a fleeing suspect who had jumped into the river entered a sewer pipe on the Harrison side. But he was soon apprehended, Doyle said, after he tried to surface through a manhole on Harrison Avenue, where a car nearly ran him over as he shoved aside the heavy metal cover.

"The guy came close to losing his life," Doyle said.

Meanwhile, Doyle said, the search for Jean was continuing as it would for any fugitive.

Greg Tramontozzi, the executive director of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission, or PVSC, which treats sewage from Newark and 47 other north Jersey communities, said even if Jean did succumb to the potentially deadly conditions inside the system, his body would not necessarily disrupt the system, whose pipes and chambers handle an average of 220 million gallons of sewage a day.

Even so, Tramontozzi said Tuesday that there had been no sign of Jean or his body in the 13 days since he entered the system, suggesting the fugitive may made his way out somehow, whether through a manhole or even the same way he went in.

"We've had no sign of him," Tramontozzi said. Speaking strictly from a life-and-death perspective, he added, "With any luck, he just got out."

Cadaver dog used to check manholes covers and sewer grates with negative results,

Fire Division utilized their robot and additionally used camera sticks which are lowered into the manholes  to view the tunnels

Passaic Valley also search the tunnel with a larger robot specially designed for use in sewer

A grim reality of sewage treatment is that the remains of human fetuses are occasionally found, Tramontozzi said. But if Jean's lifeless body does turn up, Tramontozzi added, it would be a first.

"To my knowledge," he said, "we've never seen a cadaver in our system."

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.