The San Benito County Sheriff's Office has identified the deceased person found on a rural road east of San Juan Bautista as Honduran national Olvin Humberton Aleman, 23, of Mendota, Calif. He is believed to have been murdered.

According to a statement by Sheriff's Capt. Eric Taylor, a deputy was patrolling the rural Salinas Grade Road east of San Juan on Jan. 29 at 11:45 a.m. when he saw a blue metal bat in the roadway. As the deputy went to move the bat, he noticed what appeared to be blood in the turnout area on the west shoulder of the road.

"There was a guard-rail post with suspected blood on it," the statement said. As the deputy looked over the embankment, he saw what appeared to be a deceased individual approximately 15 feet down. He went down the embankment and checked the vitals of the individual and found him to be deceased.

"We had no other information regarding what happened, and had to wait for the medical examiner to confirm the male’s identity," Taylor said, noting that the deceased was identified on Feb. 1.

"Just today we were able to locate his father, after days of searching and little to no cooperation from his contacts in Mendota," Taylor's statement, released on Feb. 5, said. " Now that his father has been notified, we are releasing his name. Aleman was the victim of a very violent assault that left him with stab wounds and his neck had been cut. It appears he was killed at the scene on Salinas Grade Road."

Anybody with information on Aleman, or any suspects is urged to call the Sheriff’s Office at 831-636-4080.