The body of a person apparently linked to a botched pickup theft was found five days after a police search ended on the banks of the Colorado River near a bloody knife.
Authorities say they discovered the body at about 3:30 p.m. Christmas Eve in the Colorado River west of New Castle, according to a statement released Monday by the Garfield County Sheriff’s Department.
Searchers recovered the body by 5:30 p.m. Saturday, the statement said. Authorities did not say whether it was a man or a woman.
A Honda Ridgeline pickup was reported stolen from a driveway at 43001 U.S. 6 on Dec. 19. The thief crashed the truck into a fence gate near exit 109 of Interstate 70 the same day.
Garfield County deputies were dispatched to exit 109 and used dogs to search for the suspect. The dogs followed the suspect’s trail to the river.
On Tuesday, a dog from the sheriff’s department led deputies to an area where they discovered the suspect’s wallet, clothing, pools of blood and tracks leading to the river.
The following day, they discovered a bloody knife in the area where they had previously found blood, the news release says. Dogs were used to search both sides of the river.
Because they were unable to pick up a new trail, authorities believed the body was still in the river.
The Garfield County coroner will identify the person who was killed and release the name once family members are notified, the news release says.
