ESCALON - San Joaquin County Sheriff’s detectives have identified the New Year’s morning homicide victim found along an embankment off River Road near the Stanislaus River as Lynette Lena Garza, 23, of Modesto.

Her body was located some 60 feet from where officers found her abandoned vehicle parked on the edge of the two-lane roadway south of Escalon

Sheriff’s public information officer Deputy Les Garcia said the woman’s body was discovered about 3:40 a.m. a quarter mile east of McHenry Avenue after CHP officers had been initially called to the scene for the report of a traffic collision.  Garcia said the investigation was taken over by his department and is ongoing to determine the cause of death and to collect evidence about the woman’s killer.

He added that there had been signs of death present due to the “severe trauma” the woman had undergone.  The official cause of death is pending an autopsy and toxicology results.