Authorities Attempting to Identify Jane Doe Found in AqueductDepartment of Water Resources was doing his rounds on the Aqueduct and found a body in the California Aqueduct. The body was located on Amargosa, near the Key Pointe Avenue.
HESPERIA — Authorities hoisted the body of an unidentified woman from the California Aqueduct on Sunday after a worker with the state Department of Water Resources found her "face down, floating," California Highway Patrol spokesman Matt Hunt said.
The worker was making their rounds at about 10:25 a.m. when they spotted the woman. The worker called 911 and CHP responded to the scene, where they found the woman "showing obvious signs of rigor mortis," Hunt said.
The woman, whose identity has not been released, was found at the end of the aqueduct just west of Amargosa Road and north of Main Street.
CHP, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and County Fire were among the agencies to respond to the report. County Fire's hazmat, swift water rescue and urban search and rescue teams were at the location.
Two divers, at least one from the sheriff's dive team, were dropped in to pull the body from the waters shortly before 2 p.m. The scene was cleared at 2:28 p.m., sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said.
Traffic on southbound Amargosa Road slowed to a near stop as the recovery got underway, with some motorists taking photographs and others pulling over to the side of the road or an empty lot to watch the ordeal unfold.
By 2 p.m., the number of looky-loos who had gathered around the aqueduct's fence border had grown from about a dozen to more than 30. The snarled traffic, meanwhile, resulted in at least one near crash.
About 90 minutes before the body was recovered, a two-vehicle crash had been reported on Amargosa Road in front of the aqueduct entrance, not far from where investigators were working. But there were no injuries reported and only moderate damage to the vehicles.
The finding Sunday marks at least the third body found in the aqueduct since January 2014. On March 27, the body of missing 53-year-old Hesperia man Norbert Haydel was found by an aqueduct employee.
In early January 2014, 47-year-old Victorville man Ruben Albert Hubacek's body was found by a bicyclist. Hubacek's Chevrolet SUV had been pulled from the icy waters two weeks before after it struck a utility pole, crashed through a fence and landed in the water.
His family told authorities he suffered from heart conditions.
The cause of death for the woman found Sunday was under investigation by CHP officials. Anyone with information should call CHP at 760-241-1186.