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UPDATE: Body found in Boise canal identified

Posted at 2:21 PM, Aug 16, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-17 11:12:14-04

The body authorities found in the Settler’s Canal about noon Wednesday has been identified as that of Ruben Gonzales, 52, according to the Ada County Coroner’s Office.

Gonzales was first reported missing Saturday.

Ruben was last known to be staying at the Interfaith Sanctuary, a homeless shelter, on River Street in Boise.

Boise Police spokesperson Haley Williams confirmed the Department’s bicycle patrol officers and micro district officers in the downtown Boise area had been searching for Gonzales since Saturday. “They had been looking in all of his last known locations and the surrounding area,” she said.

"He has been homeless for a little over a year, staying with homeless people at the skate park in Boise. He last checked into the Interfaith Sanctuary July 25th of this year," wrote Monica Salinas, his niece, in an e-mail to Idaho On Your Side.

The family had planned to search stretches of the Boise River and Settler’s Canal Thursday –- since initial reports indicated that “He was seen near the Boise River; other reports said he may have fallen into the river,” said Lisa Gonzales of Nampa, the missing man’s sister-in-law.

That search was stopped when the family learned Boise Police officers and Boise Fire dive team crews were searching the river near Garden Street and the Connector Thursday morning.

The area where the body was found is less than a mile from the Interfaith Sanctuary.

The cause of death has not yet been determined, according to the Coroner’s Office. No foul play is suspected.

Police do not yet know how long the man had been in the river.