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December 23
1997 - Five bodies found during grading of Northlake development in Castaic; determined to be Jenkins graveyard [story]
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| Thursday, Aug 19, 2021
Searchers Pyramid Lake
Divers work to recover the body of a man who disappeared at Pyramid Lake on Monday. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Special Enforcement Bureau.

 

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office released a partial name of the man whose body was recovered after he reportedly went overboard at Pyramid Lake on Monday.

J. Valadez, 23, of Los Angeles, was reportedly found 60 feet underwater on Tuesday following an extensive grid search involving sonar equipment and divers from multiple agencies. Lt. Kim, watch commander at the coroner’s office, said Wednesday that the report listed the victim’s name as “J.,” but no further information on whether that was the victim’s full name or an abbreviation was available as of the publication of this article.

Valadez was reportedly found near where a “handful” of people on a pontoon boat with Valadez said he disappeared after plunging into the water at approximately 10:50 a.m. on Monday.

The search area employed by divers encompassed approximately half the size of a football field, was between 30 and 120 feet deep, and was located roughly a mile off the boat launch at Pyramid Lake.

SEB LASD

Details on how Valadez went over the side of the boat remained unknown as of Wednesday morning, with law enforcement officials having said since the 23-year-old’s initial disappearance that the matter remained under investigation.

“No cause of death, yet, he will be getting examined,” said Lt. B. Kim, who declined to give his whole first name. “He will be getting examined, I just don’t know when.”

At the time of the initial call, Deputy Trina Schrader of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau said they had been called to the scene of “a possible drowning,” adding that a person had flagged down a deputy to make the report near the 43100 block of Pyramid Lake Road.

“It’s unknown if … he jumped out of the boat or he fell … we don’t know that just yet,” said Jimenez at 1:45 p.m. on Monday. “But they are still currently searching.”

Two to three divers in the water quickly expanded to 10 as they took shifts going beneath the water line, working through what were considered “murky” conditions in the lake.

At 2:10 p.m., divers with LASD Special Enforcement Bureau and Parks Bureau announced they had found the body at a depth of 60 feet of water.

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SCV NewsBreak
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