Body of man found in Ceres canal

A bicyclist discovered the body of a man in a canal along East Hatch Road on Tuesday morning.

Sgt. Jose Berber of the Ceres Police Department said officers were called to the waterway that parallels the busy roadway just east of Central Avenue near Payne Avenue about 10 a.m. on a report of a body in the water.

When authorities arrived, they found the body of a man estimated to be about 50 years old submerged in an area near the grate at the end of about a quarter-mile-long stretch of canal that starts to the east at Moffett Road. The canal does stretch further east and goes undergound.

Berber said it was too early to determine how the body got there or how long it had been in the canal.

He said by the looks of the body, it might have been there “a couple of days.”

He says it’s unknown if foul play had a role in the death. He said there were no apparent injuries to the body.

“It could vary from accidental, falling into the canal while cooling off or suffering some type of illness,” he said. “Or, it could go to the extreme of a body dump, or somebody trying to get rid of a body. It’s too early to tell.”

This story was originally published August 25, 2015 at 10:39 AM with the headline "Body of man found in Ceres canal."