UPDATE: Middletown Man Found Dead in Car in State Forest Identified

UPDATE

Police confirmed the identity of the man found dead in a section of the Cockaponset State Forest in Haddam Wednesday morning as Thomas Ulman, 47, according to the Middletown Press.

Ulman was last known to be living at a halfway house on Pearl Street in Middletown, the Press reports state police as saying, adding they haven't ruled out a cause of death until the autopsy is complete. However, this appears to be an isolated incident, the Press says.

Original story

The body of an unidentified 46-year-old Middletown man was discovered the morning after Christmas in a car parked in Cockaponset State Forest in Haddam, according to State Police Sgt. Salvatore Calvo.

On Wednesday morning about 10:30 a.m., "a mountain biker was pedaling through the woods," Calvo said, "and saw a vehicle about 70 yards into the woods and the driver's side door was open. Inside was an unconscious male."

The car was located just off Jericho Road in Haddam, Calvo said, which is about six miles from the Middletown city line. Jericho is located between Beaver Meadow Road and Route 9.

After the biker called 911, Haddam Fire and Ambulance responded and declared the man, who had identification on him, dead.

No cause of death has been released.

The state medical examiner has taken the body for an autospy, Calvo said, police are notifying the next of kin, and the police investigation is ongoing.

This is the second time in less than a month that a man's body was found in a wooded area in the Middletown area. On Dec. 3, authorities from Middletown, Meriden and Middlefield located a deceased man in the forest near Higby Mountain. His death has since been declared not suspious.