Kidnapper's Body Officially Identified

PATTERSON, Calif. (CBS13) -- Federal forensic experts have confirmed that the adult body found inside the Delta-Mendota Canal last month is that of suspected kidnapper Jose Rodriguez.

The Department of Justice compared the finger and palm prints on the left hand of the human remains with arrest records on file for Rodriguez, confirming that the 27-year-old man died in the same canal as 4-year-old Juliani Cardenas.

Rodriguez's body was found mid-morning on February 12, almost two weeks after investigators found the child almost 30 miles downstream.

The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department said Rodriguez apparently kidnapped young Cardenas from the boy's grandmother on the afternoon of January 18 and was seen driving into the nearby canal within the hour.

A statewide Amber Alert was issued and authorities searched the murky, fast-moving canal for days before locating the suspect's car.