The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the body found floating at a San Antonio Water System treatment plant as 37-year-old Moody Arteaga, who had been reported missing two weeks prior.
Arteaga was last seen Aug. 24. A Missing Persons flyer indicated that Arteaga had planned to take a walk at the Leon Creek Trail and had a float and a rope with him.
The San Antonio Police Department had confirmed reports of a body floating at a SAWS treatment plant more than 22 miles away on the South Side on Sept. 7.
Police responded on that Saturday morning to a report of a body floating in a tank at the Leon Creek Water Recycling Center at 1104 Mauermann Road. A SAWS employee said that he saw a deceased person floating face down in the water at 8 a.m. after moving a metal panel that covered a diversion tank he was checking at the treatment plant.
SAPD officials said police reported obvious signs of decomposition to the body, and that the SAPD Hazmat unit removed the body from the sewage tank.
According to the initial report, the body was described as a man wearing black shorts with black rubber boots.
Workers reported on Friday that they found a black backpack in the diversion tank next to the tank the body was found in.
The backpack contained two cell phones and credit cards in it, which came back to “a missing person,” the responding officer said in his report.
Workers said that the tank the body was found in feeds into the tank the backpack was found in, and that it may belong to the deceased person.
SAPD said the investigation is ongoing, and that the medical examiner will determine the cause of death. They said there are no signs of foul play.
SAWS spokeswoman Anne Hayden confirmed a body had been found at one of the utility’s wastewater treatment facilities over the weekend. SAWS declined to comment further at this time.
This story was originally published on Sept. 9 and updated on Oct. 22.
Reporter Lindsey Carnett contributed to this report.
