Police Still Working To Confirm ID Of Body Found In LA River

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A body has been located on an island in the Los Angeles River in the Los Feliz area, the Los Angeles Fire Department reports.

The body was found sometime before 1:15 p.m. Saturday in the 3500 block of West Los Feliz Boulevard, near Interstate 5, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

As of 6 p.m., the Los Angeles police and the Los Angeles County Coroner were on scene but had not yet identified the body but authorities did say it was a male.

PHOTOS:  Body Found Along Los Angeles River

Meanwhile, the family of  a 14-year-old boy who went missing last week fears the body could be his. The family of Elias "Eli" Rodriguez spent the entire day at the scene awaiting word and has asked the media for privacy at this time.

Dozens of volunteers turned out Saturday to go door-to-door in San Fernando to search for the 14-year-old boy who went missing during last week's rainstorms.

Rodriguez, of Pacoima, was last seen about 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 17 leaving Cesar Chavez Learning Academies at 1001 Arroyo Ave. in San Fernando, the Los Angeles Police Department reported. Elias had borrowed someone's cellphone to call his mother at work to ask if she could pick him up, but she missed the call, police said.

Authorities were revisiting the neighborhood where Elias last was seen and interviewing people in hope of generating clues to find him, LAPD Capt. Robert Marino said at a Friday news conference in front of the boy's school. The FBI joined the Los Angeles and San Fernando police departments in their hunt to find the teen. On Friday, more than 60 LAPD officers and FBI agents combed the area, but with no success.

The volunteers Saturday quartered the search area into sections and fanned out in the neighborhood with fliers, looking for any sign of Rodriguez. Authorities used dive teams to search the Los Angeles River and dogs to scour the area Saturday.

Marino noted that a reward of up to $50,000 has been offered by the Los Angeles City Council for information that helps find Elias, who was last seen near Arroyo and Glenoaks Boulevard.

Since his disappearance, a helicopter search of the Los Angeles River turned up nothing. The teen's distraught parents pleaded for information about their son at an earlier news conference at the LAPD's Mission Station.

Elias' mother, Pahola Mascorro, said friends and family members have conducted their own searches for the boy and remain desperate to know where he is.

"We just need him to come home and (to) know he's OK," she said.

Elias has never run away and his disappearance is out of character, police said.

The teen is Latino, 5 feet 4 inches tall, about 100 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information on the case is urged to call the LAPD's Mission Station at 818-838-9800.

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