Public's help sought in finding missing Moses Lake man

SOAP LAKE — The Grant County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's help in finding a missing Moses Lake man who may have drowned Saturday in an irrigation canal on Pinto Ridge Road Northeast. 

A pickup belonging to Richard D. Johnson, 70, was found empty with its motor running at about 1 p.m. on the road bordering the canal in the 23000 block of Pinto Ridge Road about nine miles northeast of Soap Lake, said Kyle Foreman, public information officer with the Grant County Sheriff's Office, in a media release.  

"A deputy answering the call was flagged down by the irrigation district employee, who then reported what appeared to be a body floating downstream in the canal," Foreman said. "The deputy and the employee tried to recover the body, but the body continued into a siphon that runs beneath SR 28. The body has not been found, and search and recovery efforts continue." 

Johnson was last seen at about 11:30 a.m. Saturday on a home security camera leaving his home on Road M.2 Northeast. 

There's no sign of foul play, Foreman said, and Johnson's family is cooperating with the investigation. Anyone with information about Richard Johnson is asked to contact GCSO, 509-762-1160, or email [email protected]. The case number is 26GS10882.