Police investigate death of Mass. college student whose body was found in RI river

Police probe death of Mass. student in RI river

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Police say they’re investigating as suspicious the death of a college student whose body was pulled from a Rhode Island river this week.

Gregory Hart was last seen Sunday morning in Providence, where he and friends had visited a nightclub.

A body preliminarily identified as Hart’s was removed Tuesday from the 18-mile-long Woonasquatucket (woon-as-kah-TUK’-et) River.

The medical examiner’s office said Wednesday it was performing an autopsy and didn’t know the cause of Hart’s death.

The 23-year-old Hart was a student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a two-hour drive northwest of Providence. He was from Dedham (DEH’-duhm), Mass.

Hart’s mother, Maryann Hart, tells The Providence Journal newspaper she suspects foul play, though police are still investigating.