Sheriff's Office Misidentifies Man Found Dead In Santa Rosa Creek

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — UPDATED: The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office misidentified a man who was found dead Monday in Santa Rosa Creek. The man was misidentified as Kenneth Anderson, 57, a transient with family in Iowa, sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Crum said.

The identification of Anderson as the deceased man was made from visual confirmation by a peace officer who has arrested Anderson on prior occasions, Crum said.

Fingerprint results received Friday identified the deceased man as someone other than Anderson, Crum said.

"As far as the newly identified decedent, the Coroner's Office is attempting to notify his next of kin and his name will be released when that is complete," Crum said.

"We have notified Mr. Anderson's family in Iowa of the error and we will be attempting to locate Mr. Anderson to advise him of our mistake as well," Crum said.

Crum said there was a "remarkable resemblance" between the two men.

"This was a human error and we apologize for our mistake," Crum said.

ORIGINAL STORY, Jan. 9, 2019: Authorities on Wednesday publicly identified a man whose body was pulled Monday from the waters of Santa Rosa Creek as Kenneth David Anderson, a 57-year-old area homeless man.

City of Santa Rosa police and firefighters responded at about 9:30 a.m. Monday to reports of a body in the water west of the Pierson Street bridge. Firefighters and officers pulled the body ashore and determined it was a deceased man, at which time the Sonoma County Sheriff-Coroner's Office was summoned.

Coroner's officials could not immediately disclose the man's name because they had difficulties trying to contact his next of kin, sheriff's Spokesperson Misti Harris told Patch.

On Wednesday, sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Crum said Anderson's family in Iowa has since been contacted and notified of his passing.

The cause and manner of Anderson's death is still being investigated.

The sheriff-coroner's office referred questions about how long Anderson may have been dead to the Santa Rosa Police Department, which has not released an official statement about the death.

That may be because police, according to The Press Democrat, found no immediate signs of foul play in the death.

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Bay City News Service contributed to this report.

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