Marie Joseph went swimming in the pool at Lafayette Park Sunday with friends. Her body was found floating on the surface of the water Tuesday night. 
 
 
 
 Police are now trying to determine how she died and if her body was in the water all that time. 
 
 
 
 Teenagers who entered the poolside area at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Pool at Lafayette Park at 10 p.m. Tuesday called police to report a body floating there. The area was closed and locked at the time, and police are investigating how the teenagers got inside. 
 
 
 
 The body has been positively identified as Joseph, Chief Daniel Racine said at a press conference held Wednesday afternoon. 
 
 
 
 “There doesn’t appear to be anything suspicious about this as of right now,” District Attorney Sam Sutter said. “But the refrain you will be hearing from us, constantly, is that this is a matter under investigation.” 
 
 
 
 Joseph, 36, of Fall River, had not been reported missing, Racine said, but friends and family had not seen her since Sunday. 
 
 
 
 Investigators began looking for her after park personnel told them they found clothing, a cell phone and a Massachusetts identification card left behind at the pool when they closed for the night on Sunday. 
 
 
 
 Detectives spoke with a 9-year-old boy, a neighbor to Joseph, who went to the pool with her and a group from the neighborhood Sunday afternoon. 
 
 “He went down the pool slide with Marie acting as a chaperone,” Racine said. “She, unexpectedly, went down the slide behind him.” 
 
 
 
 Joseph collided with him in the water, Racine said. The boy told detectives he did not see Joseph again after that collision. 
 
 
 
 The water under the slide is 12 feet deep. 
 
 
 
 Police now are trying to determine if Joseph drowned on Sunday, if her body remained in the water from Sunday to Tuesday and how, if she was in the water, she was not seen. 
 
 
 
 The state Department of Conservation and Recreation owns and operates the pool, which opened for the season on Saturday. The pool was closed Wednesday, and environmental police officers posted outside the pool. 
 
 
 
 The DCR announced Wednesday that all 30 of its deepwater pools will be closed during a review of the operational procedures over the next 24 to 48 hours. 
 
 
 
 Edward Lambert Jr., the former Fall River mayor and current DCR commissioner, issued a statement Wednesday saying the pool's entire staff “has been placed on administrative leave. 
 
 
 
 "On behalf of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, we express our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Marie Joseph," Lambert said. "We will continue to cooperate fully with local and state law enforcement during their ongoing investigation." 
 
 
 
 The pool is surrounded by a 7-foot chain link fence. When a DCR pool is closed for the day, the pool staff order swimmers out of the water and perform a full inspection of the pool and the surrounding area before locking up the site for the night, DCR spokeswoman S.J. Port said. The search includes the bathrooms and changing areas. 
 
 
 
 Additional questions about the incident were referred to the Fall River Police. 
 
 
 
 The investigation is continuing, Racine said. Investigators are waiting for the results of an autopsy to determine the cause of death, Sutter said. 
 
 
 
 “As of right now, so much is not determined,” Sutter said. “We do have a tragic death. It does appear it happened Sunday afternoon. 
 
 
 
 “Other than that, we have few answers.” 
 
 
 
 
 
 Email Kevin P. O’Connor at koconnor@heraldnews.com. ||||| The body of a 36-year-old woman was pulled from a state-run pool in Fall River Tuesday night, apparently after being in the water since Sunday, prompting the temporary closure of all state-operated deep-water pools in Massachusetts while officials investigate, authorities said. 
 
 It was not clear yesterday if any swimmers noticed the woman’s body between Sunday and Tuesday. The Herald News, a local newspaper, ran a photo in Tuesday’s paper showing swimmers in the water on Monday. 
 
 Law enforcement officials identified the woman as Marie Joseph of Fall River. 
 
 Fall River police Lieutenant Roger LaFleur said in a statement that officers went to Vietnam Veterans Memorial Swimming Pool at Lafayette Park at about 10 p.m. Tuesday and pulled Joseph from the water. She was taken to a hospital where she was later pronounced dead. 
 
 Edward M. Lambert Jr. — commissioner of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, which operates the pool — said in a statement yesterday that all 30 of the agency’s deep-water pools will close for 24 to 48 hours while investigators review safety procedures. 
 
 High temperatures around the state will range from the low 70s to the low 80s today and tomorrow, according to the National Weather Service in Taunton. 
 
 Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for the Bristol district attorney’s office, said in a phone interview that people walking by the pool late Tuesday night spotted Joseph’s body floating in the water. 
 
 Fall River Police Chief Daniel Racine said during a news conference yesterday that a 9-year-old boy that Joseph was watching at the pool on Sunday told police she had an accident on a water slide. 
 
 The boy stated that “Marie unexpectedly slid down the slide landing on top of him,’’ Racine said. 
 
 “He further stated he believed Marie went under the water and did not surface.’’ 
 
 Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter, who was also at the press conference yesterday, said: “We’re not certain about anything, other than the fact that we have a death and that this person was at the pool, and what took place with respect to the slide. Everything beyond that is absolutely under investigation. 
 
 “We do have a tragic death,’’ Sutter said. “And it does appear [that] it took place Sunday afternoon at some point.’’ 
 
 He said the sequence of events after Joseph went underwater and did not resurface was unclear. 
 
 “Exactly who the boy spoke to and what that person did and what happened next, this is the beginning stages of the investigation,’’ Sutter said. 
 
 Miliote said Joseph’s death did not appear to be suspicious. The cause of death is unknown pending an autopsy by the state medical examiner. 
 
 Phone numbers listed for Joseph were not in service yesterday. Numbers for her relatives could not be located. 
 
 Lambert said the entire staff of the Veterans pool has been placed on administrative leave pending the review. 
 
 He also expressed “deepest condolences’’ to Joseph’s friends and family. 
 
 “We will continue to cooperate fully with local and state law enforcement during their ongoing investigation,’’ he said. 
 
 Joseph D. Camara, a Fall River city councilor, said in a brief phone interview that while many residents use the pool regularly, a temporary closure during the review makes sense. 
 
 “I think this is a very serious matter, and I certainly don’t want the pool to be open while the [authorities] are doing their investigation,’’ Camara said. “It’s just the way it’s going to be.’’ 
 
 Camara also said he felt badly for Joseph and her family. 
 
 “It’s a tragic situation,’’ said Camara. 
 
 B.J. Fisher — director of health and safety at the American Lifeguard Association, a Virginia-based training and certification agency for guards — said in a phone interview that finding a body in a pool days after a drowning is unusual but not unprecedented. 
 
 “A lot of times what will come into play is . . . the turbidity of the water,’’ meaning that the water is not clear, making it impossible to see the bottom of the pool. 
 
 He said he could not speak for the case in Fall River because he had not been aware of it. 
 
 “The problem with drownings is that they’re silent,’’ Fisher said. “They can happen in a matter of seconds.’’ 
 
 Globe correspondent Katherine Landergan contributed to this report. Andersen can be reached at tandersen@globe.com. 
 
 © Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.
– An inexplicable one from the Boston area: Police think a 36-year-old woman drowned in a public pool on Sunday and was not pulled from the water until Tuesday night, reports the Boston Globe. Nobody noticed the body in the interim, apparently. The victim is 36-year-old Marie Joseph, who went to the Fall River pool with a neighborhood group on Sunday, reports the local News Herald. A 9-year-old boy, her neighbor, tells police that Joseph went down a pool slide, landed on top of him, and went under. He never saw her surface. Somehow, Joseph's body was not spotted until Tuesday night, when passersby saw her floating in the water. The pool had been open on Monday, too. "We’re not certain about anything, other than the fact that we have a death and that this person was at the pool, and what took place with respect to the slide," says an assistant district attorney. "Everything beyond that is absolutely under investigation."