Seven miles west of Stockton, Eight Mile Road dead-ends into Little Potato Slough, one of numerous twisting waterways running off the San Joaquin River.
A dive team Saturday found a body in the slough in a car registered to Jacob VanZant, a 24-year-old who went missing in February after leaving a Lodi restaurant, Lodi police Sgt. Matt Latino said.
The white Honda Pilot SUV was submerged in about 18 feet of water between 100 and 150 feet offshore, he said.
“At this point, we can confirm that it did appear to be some sort of accident,” the sergeant said. “Whether or not it was intentional, or whether or not intoxicants were involved, are currently up in the air.”
The county medical examiner’s office has not yet confirmed that the person found was VanZant. “The family and the dive team are confident that it is Mr. VanZant,” Latino said.
The person appeared to be male and was wearing a sweatshirt, said Jared Leisek, founder of the dive team and media company Adventures with Purpose, in a YouTube video live-streamed on April 15.
Lodi Police can’t yet publicly confirm that description, Latino said.
VanZant went missing on Feb. 17 after leaving a restaurant in Lodi around dinnertime, Leisek said.
The 24-year-old may have intended to bring takeout to his girlfriend, who lives in Stockton, he said.
But divers found VanZant’s Honda in a rural area far from Interstate 5, Highway 99, or other typical driving routes between Lodi and Stockton.
“At one point in our investigation, the family relayed that Mr. VanZant frequented the Delta region,” Latino said. Otherwise, police “have no idea” why VanZant may have been in the area, he said.
The Lodi Police Department investigation is ongoing.