Another day, another murder here in the Valley, and the latest victim seems to have died under circumstances similar to that of a Tempe man who was found shot to death in a canal last month.
Fire crews pulled the body of an unidentified man out of a Phoenix canal near 42nd Street and Baseline this morning.
The body was reportedly found floating face down by SRP workers checking the canal's flow around 9 a.m.
It was initially believed the man may have slipped and fell into the canal, but it was later discovered that he had several stab wounds on his chest.
His belongings were found on the bank of the canal, The Arizona Republic is reporting..
The man has not been identified.
Phoenix police aren't offering too many details at the moment and haven't returned several calls from New Times. At first glance, though, the story sounds awfully similar to the death of 47-year-old Jeff Ahlers.
Ahlers' body was found in a Tempe canal in early June -- not too far from the scene of this morning's discovery.
The circumstances surrounding Ahlers' death are a little more mysterious than those of today's victim -- Tempe cops still won't say whether his death was a murder or suicide.
Trust us, we've asked (and asked).
Ahlers -- who by all accounts was a happy guy with no reason to kill himself -- was found shot to death in the same canal as today's victim, less than three miles away.
Tempe police are so hush-hush over Ahlers' death that they won't even say whether a gun was found near the scene, which would only make sense had he killed himself.
We contacted both the Tempe Police Department and the Phoenix Police Department to see if either thinks the deaths could be related. Neither got back to us.
