Body Found in Canal Believed to Be Missing Elderly Moses Lake Man

Thursday (Sept. 10th) the Grant County Sheriff's Office released information about the recovery of a body from a large irrigation canal.

    70-Year-Old Man's Truck was Found Idling, Abandoned Next to Canal

 As we had reported earlier this week, the truck belonging to Richard D. Johnson was found near the intersection of Road 23 NE and Pinto Road NE, next to a large canal. The engine was running, but he was nowhere to be found.

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An irrigation canal worker found the truck, then downstream spotted a body floating in the water.  He and a Grant County Deputy who'd been called to the location tried to retrieve it, but it drifted away, and went down a chute that led under SR 28.

   The Search Ended Thursday Morning

No word as to why he was at the canal, but Johnson had been last seen leaving his rural Moses Lake home in his truck last Saturday, captured on security cameras, around 11:30 AM,  the canal worker found his truck around 1 PM. This is the bulletin released by GCSO earlier this week.

GCSO Facebook

His body was found about 16 miles north of Moses Lake near  Stratford Road and Road 16-NE., a location about 8 miles downstream from where his truck was located.

canal where he was pulled from--google street view

Grant County Fire District 5 crew recovered the body Thursday, the victim's family has been notified and the Coroner will conduct an autopsy.

 The area where he was located is circled in our photo.