Yet another body found by the river

In what has become a disturbing trend in Petaluma, on Sunday the body of a man was found near the waterfront.|

In what has become a disturbing trend in Petaluma, on Sunday the body of a man was found near the waterfront.

Police have said there were no signs of foul play, but are waiting on the results of an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

The man was identified as Leonard Neal Smith, 63, who police believe was homeless at the time of his death.

The body was found by a man who planned to fish from the landscaped bank near the Foundry Wharf business park, which is popular with anglers.

Police said Smith lived in Petaluma previously, then moved to Montana but had returned to Petaluma in recent months. He had been homeless for the past month, Sgt. Ed Crosby said in a news release. However, there were no signs that he was camped out on the river.

Anyone with information on Smith’s death is encouraged to call the Petaluma Police Department’s Investigations Unit at 778-4415.

This was the fourth homeless man in the past two months to be found dead in Petaluma. It also marks the 12th body to be found outdoors in the last 16 months. Lt. Danny Fish of the Petaluma police said the recent spate of deaths has not caused the department to change any of its protocols, largely because the police already had a close working relationship with Petaluma’s homeless population.

“We do work with the Mary Isaak Center to try and figure out what to do, especially when the temperatures drop,” Fish said. “But that’s nothing new, we’ve always done that.”

Fish said the department did look at the deaths, both individually and collectively, to see if there was anything unusual about them.

“We didn’t find anything out of the ordinary,” he said. “The vast majority have been caused by health problems.”

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