Man’s body recovered from river in Knights Ferry, Stanislaus fire district reports

A man’s body was recovered Wednesday morning in the water above the covered bridge in Knights Ferry, according to the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District.

The body has not been positively identified, but the family of Josue Alfredo Sanchez was at the scene, Battalion Chief Eric DeHart said. The Sheriff’s Department has custody of the body and asked the Sanchez family to go to the Coroner’s Office, he said.

Sanchez went missing May 23. He and a friend, both in their 20s, hiked from the Knights Ferry Recreation Area parking lot and got into the water holding on to a raftlike inflatable about two miles east of the bridge.

Before reaching the bridge, they lost their grip when they encountered rapids.

Neither was wearing a life vest, authorities said. Sanchez’s friend made it to shore and was taken to a local hospital. His friend continued downstream.

Stanislaus Consolidated had a boat in the water searching for Sanchez. The Sheriff’s Department helicopter also was used for the search.

Since then, the fire district has had a boat crew check the river there daily. Thursday morning, it launched at 9:36, and DeHart said he got the report of the discovery at 9:44. “The boat came across the body pretty close to where the last sighting of Josue was,” he said.

Just above that area, the river is relatively wide, which gives the appearance the water isn’t moving swiftly, DeHart said. “Farther down, it starts to narrow and gets into rapids.”

The water also remains very cold – temperatures in the high 40s to low 50s, he said – which makes swimming more treacherous.

The cold water has preserved the man’s body well, DeHart said, so if it is Sanchez, it’s more than likely the family will be able to make a positive identification. If not, other means will be used to ID the victim, he said.

On a gofundme.com page set up May 26 to raise money for anticipated funeral costs, Sanchez’s sister Lluvia Sanchez wrote, “My family is devastated. My mother is going through the toughest pain any mother will ever go through. Anybody who knew my brother knew knows he was a happy, friendly and super funny! He had friends everywhere. He would literally light up any room he walked into.”

This story was originally published June 14, 2017 at 1:56 PM with the headline "Man’s body recovered from river in Knights Ferry, Stanislaus fire district reports."