1st black woman on state’s highest court found dead by river

The first black woman appointed to the state’s highest court has been found dead on the bank of the Hudson River.

Sheila Abdus-Salaam’s body was discovered along the riverside near Harlem on Wednesday, a day after she was reported missing, police said.

Police said her body showed no obvious signs of trauma, and they declined to speculate on the cause of her death. The medical examiner planned to study her body to try to determine what killed her.

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who appointed Abdus-Salaam to the state’s Court of Appeals in 2013, called her a “trailblazing jurist.”

“As the first African-American woman to be appointed to the state’s Court of Appeals, she was a pioneer,” Cuomo said. “Through her writings, her wisdom and her unshakable moral compass, she was a force for good whose legacy will be felt for years to come.”

Chief Judge Janet DiFiore said her colleague will be “missed deeply.”

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