Patterson Cemetery District, Stanislaus County, CA 

Submitted by Gale Stroud and Burta Herger 26 Aug 2007

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Burgman Albert 890824 p1
Drivers Pull Body from Local Aqueduct; The coroner determined that a 43-year old transient whose body was pulled
from the California Aqueduct Tuesday morning died of drowning, not foul play. Stanislaus County Sheriff's
investigation were at first suspicious because of a gash on the dead man's forehead.  But an autopsy determined the man
had drowned, said Det. Mark Ottoboni. Abrasions on the forehead, knee, and feet probably were caused when the body
carried by the swift current, scraped against the concrete side or bottom of the canal, Ottoboni said.  At 8:30 Tuesday
morning, two motorists spotted what they thought was a human body or tire floating in the middle of the aqueduct near
Fink Road.  Sheriff's deputies were dispatched and confirmed it was a body.  County divers recovered the corpse at
10:30.  The body is believed to have been in the water for at least two days.   Ottoboni speculated the man probably fell
into the south-flowing aqueduct several miles upstream, judging by the distance the body traveled from the time it was
first sighted.  The man's name was being withheld until next of kin were notified, but his name reportedly is Albert
Burgman.  "We don't know where he is from originally" Ottoboni said.  "We're having a hard time finding someone who
knows this individual or anyone who is related to him.  Deputies found a wallet, still containing cash, in the man's jeans
pocket.  It produced Ids tracing him to the states of Maine and Washington.   Burgman reportedly had served time in
Washington on a firearm assault charge and had a trespassing charge pending in Santa Clara County.  Ottoboni said the
man was being held in Merced on the Santa Clara County warrant, but was released Aug. 15. Receipts found in the man's
clothing indicated he had made purchases at Patterson stores between Aug. 16 and Aug. 19, Ottoboni said. California
Highway Patrol picked up Burgman earlier in August alongside Highway 152 near Pacheco.  The Wednesday Modesto
Bee said a Stanislaus County detective questioned Burgman in Merced in connection with a string of cabin burglaries in
the remote mountain area near the Stanislaus-Santa Clara County border.  However, fingerprints found in one of the
burglarized cabins did not match Burgman's