Man found dead on the side of a road in South Ogden; police investigating

SOUTH OGDEN, Utah — Police are investigating after a dead body was found on the side of a road in South Ogden.

The South Ogden Police Department said the body was found Friday afternoon in the bushes at 4800 S. Washington Boulevard near the Lindquist Washington Heights Memorial Park cemetery.

Police believe it’s a male. They say the body was badly decomposed and may have been there since September with thousands of people passing by it every single day.

Because of the condition of the body, police also say they couldn’t determine how the man died.

Claudio Morales is the person who found the body.

He owns a landscaping business and was on his way to pick up a friend for a job when he noticed two red shoes by a suitcase as if the person was just laying down. Morales and his cousin went to see if that person needed help. That’s when they noticed it was a badly decomposed body.

Morales ran out in the road to flag down a police officer who just happened to be passing by.

“The guy was holding his chest and there was a mound of dirt across his stomach kind of covering it but his body was mostly out,” said Morales. “I thought it was just somebody who needed help but then I saw it was a decomposing body.”

Police are going through their database to see if anybody has been reported missing in the area.

They admit identifying the man could take some time.

Morales said he is planning on bringing flowers or some other type of memento to the place where the body was found.

“It doesn’t matter if he was a good man or a bad man, he is in God’s hands now,” said Morales. “He’s at peace.”