The Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) police dragged the body of a middle-aged man out of the Charles River Friday morning.

MDC detectives are checking the body against the files of two missing persons in an attempt to discover his identity. Police said yesterday they have not yet determined whether the death was a suicide, a homicide or an accident, adding an autopsy will be performed later this week. The body was found with lacerations on the stomach and abrasions on the head.

Discovery

Three young men discovered the body floating face-up on the Charles near the Weeks Footbridge at about 11:30 a.m. Friday and called the police, who pulled the body from the river at 11:45 a.m.

Police described the dead man as a 40-to 45-year-old white, wearing black pants, green sweater, yellow and maroon checkered sports jacket and a raincoat. He was carrying an airline bag over his shoulder and had no form of identification when he was found.

"His dress was one normally conforming to a college-area individual, be it a student or a professor," Officer Robert M. Ryan, an MDC policeman who dragged the body out of the river, said.

However, Ryan added that though the man was "well beyond a wino or a derelict," the police could not be sure he was affiliated with a college in the area.

Harvard police said yesterday they are not involved in the investigation of the dead man.