Body of Fugitive Ex-Teacher Found

The body of a teacher who had served time for possession of child pornography was identified Monday by state police.

Michael Reiner, 53, who disappeared from a federal halfway house after a child pornography conviction, apparently killed himself, state police said Monday.

The body was found in the Hudson River in the town of Wappinger, said State Police Capt. Pierce Gallagher.

Fingerprints, medical records and an autopsy were used to positively identify the body, The Associated Press reported. His injuries were consistent with a fall from a structure and  not an assault, police said. The final determination of death by the medical examiner is pending toxicology results.

Reiner taught at the Long Island School for the Gifted in Huntington Station for 20 years. He apparently committed suicide by jumping off a bridge across the Hudson near Wappingers Falls, Gallagher said.

Newsday said Reiner had completed a 78-month prison sentence on the child pornography charges, but was living in a halfway house in Brooklyn since 2012 when he was released from prison, because he could not find a suitable apartment in which to live, officials said. The rules of the halfway house required that he return each night, but on May 30, he did not, officials said.
Reiner's name had been placed on the list of registered sex offenders the day before, officials said.

Reiner's computer contained material about getting sexual gratification by eating young children.

But, Newsday said, there was no suggestion he had harmed anyone. Athough the school fired him, many parents of his students defended him as an excellent teacher.