SAN DIEGO — The discovery Thursday of two unidentified dead men — one of whom had suffered suspicious injuries — in a section of the Tijuana River just north of the U.S.-Mexico line prompted a homicide investigation.
Authorities found the bodies about 8 a.m., roughly 15 hours after the Border Patrol reported a sighting of what appeared to be a corpse floating in the binational waterway near the intersection of Clearwater Way and Dairy Mart Road, just west of San Ysidro, according to the San Diego Police Department.
"This area is a large floodplain (that) has been flooded in recent weeks due to heavy rain," SDPD Lt. Steve Shebloski said. "Officers ... responded and checked the area. However, due to poor lighting conditions, a strong water flow, (and) vegetation and debris in the river, they were not able to locate a body."
Shortly after dawn Thursday, police resumed the search. With help from a Border Patrol helicopter crew, officers found the dead men in the river channel, near a large pile of accumulated debris. They called in city lifeguards to retrieve the bodies.
"The San Diego (County) Medical Examiner's office was contacted, and, upon closer examination of one of the (dead men), it was discovered he had trauma to his upper body that indicated he was the victim of a homicide," Shebloski said. "The (other) had no obvious signs of injury that indicated he was the victim of a crime."
Cause-of-death rulings were on hold pending completion of postmortem examinations.
"It is undetermined if the deaths ... are related in any way or if (the) bodies ended up at the same location due to the recent heavy rains and strong currents in the river that led to their discovery in a location where a large amount of debris had accumulated within the river," Shebloski said. "This investigation is ongoing."