Muslim Judge Dead, Body Found in Hudson River; Suicide a Possibility

Sheila Abdus-Salaam, the first female Muslim judge in the U.S., was found dead in New York on Wednesday afternoon.

Abdus-Salaam, 65, also the first African-American woman associate judge on the New York State Court of Appeals, was found floating in the Hudson River in Upper Manhattan at 1:45 p.m. on Wednesday, according to The New York Times.

Police don’t know how long the judge had been missing or even how she died, the Times reported. She was fully clothed and had no signs of trauma on her body or any evidence of foul play.

Abdus-Salaam was one of seven judges on the State Court of Appeals since 2013. She also served on the First Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court for four years and another 15 years as a State Supreme Court justice in Manhattan.

Law enforcement sources told CNN the investigation suggested a possible suicide.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo spoke Wednesday, calling Abdus-Salaam a “pioneer” with an “unshakable moral compass” and a “trailblazing jurist whose life in public service was in pursuit of a more fair and more just New York for all,” the Times reported.

Former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman said Abdus-Salaam’s death was “difficult to understand.”

“The court has suffered a terrible blow,” he said, Fox News reported.

Abdus-Salaam grew up poor in a family of seven children in Washington, D.C. The president of the New York State Bar Association, Claire P. Gutekunst, said Abdus-Salaam's “intellect, judicial temperament and wisdom earned her wide respect,” Fox News reported.

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