Hired worker vanishes during job at NJ house, found dead hours later in rising waters

🚨 The rescue of a man turned into a recovery mission in Gloucester County

🚨 The body of a contractor was found in a creek

🚨 He was working on a house when he slipped and fell in the water

WESTVILLE — The search for a missing worker along the Big Timber Creek in Gloucester County came to a grim end.

Dive teams and marine units from Gloucester, Camden, and Cumberland counties searched for hours in the murky creek water on Wednesday. Then, at 8 p.m., it was turned into a recovery mission, according to the Gloucester County Emergency Management.

At around 9:30 p.m., the body of a 36-year-old West Deptford man was recovered by dive teams and was identified as the missing worker, the county emergency management team confirmed on Facebook.

The man was later identified as Valentin Garcia-Gaona, according to multiple media outlets.

Garcia-Gaona had been working as a contractor on a residential property at 500 Edgewater Ave. at 1:30 p.m. when he somehow lost his footing on an embankment and fell into the creek.

Officials told 6ABC Action News that someone working with Garcia-Gaona tried to throw him a line in the backyard, but Garcia-Gaona was not able to grab on. The 911 caller then lost sight of the man in the creek.

According to NBC 10, the creek bordering Gloucester and Camden counties is more than 10 feet high and can have strong currents.

Garcia-Gaona reportedly owned a lawn care company in town.

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