Pierce County sheriff’s deputies were investigating the homicide of a Puyallup man whose body was found Thursday night in a ditch on the Key Peninsula.
A couple walking their dog about 8 p.m. found the body of 33-year-old Leon Dwayne Baucham Jr. in the wetlands to the side of the road, sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said Friday.
Baucham’s body was found near Wauna in the 14900 block of 82nd Avenue Northwest in unincorporated Pierce County, Troyer said.
The Medical Examiner’s Office identified the man and determined he died from a gunshot wound to the torso.
“On top of the trauma to the body, there are signs that it was a homicide,” Troyer said. “… We believe the body was dumped there.”
Deputies did not release how long the body had been in the wetlands, because of the ongoing investigation, he said.
alexis.krell@ thenewstribune.com Staff photographer Lee Giles III contributed to this report.