Dead body found buried along Pajaro River

April 11, 2025

body found 1 — Yellow crime scene tape hangs from a shopping cart in the Pajaro River levee in Pajaro Friday where a body was found buried Thursday afternoon. Tarmo Hannula/The Pajaronian

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a body that was found along the Pajaro River levee west of the Main Street Bridge that connects the community of Pajaro to Watsonville.

On April 10, detectives got a call about a body that was buried along the Pajaro River levee. Detectives responded at 3pm and began searching, and at 8pm detectives found the buried body.

Monterey County Sheriff’s investigators found the body off of this trail in the river levee area just west of the Main Street Bridge (shown here) that connects Pajaro to Watsonville. (Tarmo Hannula/The Pajaronian)

A post-mortem forensic examination will be performed by the Monterey County Sheriff’s Coroner division to determine the identity of the person..

Anyone with information is asked to call Sheriff’s Det. Arras Wilson at 831.597.1225 or Sgt. Nicholas Kennedy at 831.755.3773 or 831.597.1228. Information can be provided anonymously.