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| Kenneth Felchle |
When the body of 17-year-old Kenneth Felchle was pulled from
the shallow, murky water of the Stockton Diverting Canal at Fremont
Street, a keening sounded from friends and relatives gathered behind a
chain-link fence on the west side of the canal.
"It's B.J." someone said, calling Felchle by his nickname.
Felchle, who was last seen by his family a week earlier, was reported
missing to the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office on Sunday.
His body was spotted by passers-by around 1:30 p.m. Friday. He was
found about 18 feet from the canal's east bank, just north of the
Fremont Street bridge, Deputy Dave Konecny, a Sheriff's Office
spokesman, said.
The Sheriff's Office was withholding Felchle's name until his family
had been notified. But several of Felchle's relatives and friends at the
scene, and Felchle's mother, Tammy Morrow, confirmed his was the body
recovered from the Delta.
Reached at her home Friday evening, Morrow said she was overwhelmed
with grief and gave the phone to a friend, who asked to remain
unidentified but fielded questions on Morrow's behalf.
Felchle grew up in Stockton and briefly attended Franklin High School
before moving to American Canyon, in southern Napa County. He and his
girlfriend, Brittany Smithson, 18, returned to Stockton a few months ago
and moved in with Morrow in the neighborhood around Cardinal Avenue
north of Main Street, Smithson said.
An avid athlete, Felchle hoped to play varsity football
in Stockton once he had enrolled in school here, Morrow's friend said.
He and Smithson had both been working hard and looking forward to
starting a family together, she added.
Smithson, leaning into the chain-link fence and staring into the water,
said she recognized Felchle by his clothing - blue jeans and a brown
shirt, the same clothing described in a flier his family had distributed
days earlier.
Terri Kyes, who had once been married to Felchle's father, said the
young man was dearly loved in her home. She still considered herself
Felchle's stepmother, and he was like a little brother to her daughters.
"He comes over all the time," she said.
Kyes, Smithson and others among Felchle's friends and relatives are
convinced his death was not an accident, but his mother, through her
spokeswoman, said she didn't want to speculate.
As investigators surveyed
the scene where Felchle was found, a shoving match broke out between
two groups of young men nearby when one of them accused another of
knowing something about Felchle's death. Deputies interrupted the
dispute before punches were thrown, and the crowd dispersed.
The Sheriff's Office did not have any information to release Friday
night about the cause or circumstances of Felchle's death. It was still
too early in the investigation, Konecny said.
Felchle's mother said she was grateful to those who helped in the
search for her son and asked that her privacy be respected during her
period of grief.
Contact reporter Christian Burkin at or cburkin@recordnet.com.
