Ceres Police have confirmed that the body found in a Turlock Irrigation District canal on Saturday is that of Ajit Kaur, a Ceres woman who had been missing since August 22.
Kaur, 72, left her apartment at 1:30 a.m. Saturday, August 22 and never returned. Ceres Police never suspected foul play in her disappearance.
Kaur was reported missing from the Casa Grande Apartment complex, located at 3100 Whitmore Avenue in Ceres. During the investigation, information led investigators to believe Kaur may have entered the TID canal located directly east of the apartment complex, which runs parallel to Moore Road.
At approximately noon on Saturday employees of the Turlock Irrigation District called law enforcement after locating a human body in the Lower Lateral 3 Canal near Central Avenue and Keyes Road. Law enforcement personnel confirmed that the remains were human.
The body was clad in the pink/peach-colored Indian dress she was last seen on surveillance video wearing.
Kaur’s family was notified of the discovery of a body before releasing information to the public.
Ceres Police said DNA testing confirmed Kaur’s identity using her sister’s DNA for testing, said Ceres Police Chief Trenton Johnson.
Johnson said his agency as well as dive teams from other agencies did an exhaustive search in the canals for a body and came up with nothing in the weeks ensuing after Kaur’s disappearance. TID personnel were also keeping a watch for a body to surface.
Throughout the investigation, Ceres Police pursued available leads and conducted extensive efforts to locate Kaur. Officers and detectives canvassed the surrounding area, including canal areas throughout Ceres in an effort to locate surveillance footage that could help determine her whereabouts. The department also requested assistance from the Merced County Sheriff’s Office, which provided a canine trained to track and locate missing persons.
The Ceres Police Department also requested assistance from the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department Dive Unit, which used an underwater remote sonar drone to search the canals.
Investigators worked with TID to better understand the canal system, identify possible water routes, and determine whether Kaur could have traveled through the canal system to the TID regulating reservoir. The Dive Unit also assisted with a search of the reservoir.
The canal flows behind the Casa Grande Apartments in a southward direction and beneath the freeway before making it into the rural area west of Keyes.
The investigation remains ongoing.
