The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office confirmed this week that a body found Dec. 15 in unincorporated Gilroy has been identified as a missing San Martin man.
The remains were positively identified as Gabriel Laradelara, 21, who was last seen alive Dec. 1 in Gilroy.
Laradelara’s body was found Dec. 15 in a waterway near Monterey Road and Rucker Avenue. Sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene and found Laradelara’s body floating in the waterway, which was close to the roadway. He was confirmed dead at the scene, the sheriff’s office said.
“Detectives from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, along with Crime Scene Investigators and the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office, are working to investigate the manner of death,” says a press release from the sheriff’s office.
Laradelara’s family had organized search efforts after he was last seen on Dec. 1. On that day, Laradelara’s 2003 black Infiniti FX45 had been found abandoned on the side of Monterey Road, near where his body was later found.