Body in canal found by passerby near Modesto. Detectives conducting death investigation

A body was found in the irrigation canal near Garst Road and Church Street on Thursday morning, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office announced.

The area where the body was found is among farmland just east of Alice Stroud Elementary School in the unincorporated area of Modesto.

A passerby reported the body at about 7:30 a.m. The Modesto Fire Department helped pull the body from the canal.

The circumstances of the person’s death are being examined by the Stanislaus County Coroner’s Office and detectives with the Sheriff’s Office’s Major Crimes Unit. Authorities were still waiting on a positive identification as of Thursday afternoon.

“The cause and manner of death will be determined after a forensic autopsy,” read a Sheriff’s Office press release. “No further information can be released at this time, as our death investigation is active & ongoing.”