Unsolved mystery: Body turns up in Miami-Dade canal

Detectives respond to a canal where a man turned up dead on Tuesday in Miami-Dade County. (Copyright 2023 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.)

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Detectives were dealing with an unsolved mystery in southern Miami-Dade County, near the urban boundary, east of the Everglades National Park and west of the Richmond West neighborhood.

A person’s body turned up Tuesday morning submerged in a canal with a north-to-south flow, in a desolated area surrounded by farms and nurseries, west of Krome Avenue.

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According to Detective Angel Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department, police officers responded to the report shortly before 10 a.m.

This aerial image shows the tire and the blue rope that was floating in a canal on Tuesday in Miami-Dade County. The pixelated area is where police officers found a man's body. (Copyright 2023 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.)

The body was near the intersection of Southwest 197 Avenue and Richmond Drive, also known as Southwest 168 Street. Police officers first parked seven marked patrol cars along the canal on the unpaved Everglades Trail.

At first glance, police officers thought a boy was dead, according to Detective Luis J. Sierra. Upon closer inspection, detectives later reported the unidentified dead person was a man, according to Rodriguez.

From a helicopter, the man’s submerged upper body was visible through the canal’s dark water. His head was near the surface, just next to a floating tire that had a blue rope tied around its side.

Police officers found a man dead in a canal on Tuesday at a desolated area of southwestern Miami-Dade County. (Copyright 2023 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.)

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel also responded to the western border of the freshwater L-31N canal, part of the South Florida Water Management District’s infrastructure.

After the man’s body was out of the canal, an MDFR paramedic declared him dead. There was an ongoing “unclassified death investigation” by MDPD at about 12 p.m., police said.

Once the unidentified man’s body was at the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Department, the autopsy report remained pending on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Detectives were asking anyone with information about the case to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editors Frine Gomez and Stephany Heilbron contributed to this report.

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About the Author:

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.