Atwater police investigating possible homicide after body found in vehicle near park

Atwater police are investigating a suspicious death after a woman’s body was found in a vehicle near a park.

At about 7:50 a.m., someone contacted authorities after finding a key to a vehicle in Ralston Park, according to an Atwater Police Department news release.

In an attempt to located the vehicle the key belonged to, responding officers found a red Kia four-door vehicle parked against a curb on the west side of the park, according to police.

Police said the vehicle had been reported to the Merced Police Department as being related to a missing person case last week.

During the investigation, officers found a dead woman in the rear passenger area of the vehicle with suspicious injuries to her body, police said.

Atwater police are treating the case as a homicide until it learns the results of an autopsy, according to the news release.

The woman’s identity is being withheld until family has been notified, police said.

The Atwater Police Department asks anyone with information related to this case, including surveillance cameras in the Ralston Park Area, to call 209-357-6384 and ask for detectives Vierra or Aguilar.