Missing Moses Lake Man Feared Drowned In Irrigation Canal Near Stratford

Police in Grant County are continuing their search for a missing Moses Lake man who's feared to have drowned in an irrigation canal over Labor Day Weekend.

The Grant County Sheriff's Office says at around 1 p.m. on Saturday (Sept. 5), an employee with the Quincy-Columbia Basin Irrigation District called 9-1-1 to report finding an unoccupied pickup truck with its motor running near the 23000 block of Pinto Ridge Road Northeast just west of Stratford.

A short time later, a responding deputy made contact with the employee, who said they'd seen what appeared to be a body floating in the canal.

The deputy and employee located the suspected body and attempted its recovery, but their efforts were unsuccessful, and the body was reportedly carried by the waters of the canal into a siphon running under State Route 28.

The body has yet to be recovered, and investigators believe it is likely that of 70-year-old Richard D. Johnson, who owns the pickup truck that was found nearby and has been missing since shortly before the body was spotted.

Detectives say Johnson was last seen at around 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 5, when a home surveillance camera captured him leaving his residence on Road M.2 Northeast in rural Moses Lake.

The Sheriff's Office says they have no reason to suspect that foul play is in any way involved with Johnson's disappearance, and that his family is cooperating fully with the investigation.

Anyone who has information regarding Johnson's disappearance or his possible whereabouts is being asked to contact the Grant County Sheriff's Office.