Aqueduct Drowning Victim Identified

Authorities have identified the body of a 70-year-old fisherman who apparently drowned after he fell into the California Aqueduct near Llano.

Earnest Harris of Littlerock had been fishing Friday afternoon along the aqueduct, a quarter of a mile west of Largo Vista Road in the eastern Antelope Valley. Family members reported him missing Saturday.

His body was recovered from the bottom of the channel by Sheriff’s Department divers Sunday morning. The cause of death appeared to be drowning, but an autopsy is pending, said Juan Jimenez, assistant chief of investigations for the coroner’s office.

Despite its placid appearance, the aqueduct can be hazardous, said Sgt. Robert Schuman of the State Police, which patrols the waterway. The current is strong, the water numbingly cold and the channel walls are slick with algae, he said.

Harris was fishing in a designated fishing area, but many parts of the aqueduct are placed off limits to anglers. Two men fishing in a restricted area near Gorman fell into the aqueduct and drowned last July.