A badly decomposed body was found in Walnut Creek near the Millcreek Mall on Thursday morning, launching an investigation in which the Erie County Coroner’s Office hopes an autopsy will provide clues about the cause of death.
The body, found on its back in the creek, had no identification on it and was so decomposed that the gender could not be immediately determined, said Deputy Coroner John Maloney, who was on the scene with police officers and firefighters with Millcreek Township.
“We have no idea who the person is,” Maloney said. He said decomposition appeared to have set in some time ago.
The body was found in a narrow stretch of Walnut Creek that runs along the northern edge of the mall parking lot, behind Elevate Church. A fisherman said he discovered the body at about 10:30 a.m. as he was walking the banks of Walnut Creek looking for steelhead.
“I didn’t see steelhead, but I saw a body,” said the fisherman, Erie resident Aleksander Sowa, 67, who remained at the scene and spoke to the police.