Cause of death, identity revealed in coroner’s case of body at McKinley Park pond

The name and cause of death of the man whose body was pulled from East Sacramento’s McKinley Park duck pond in October has been released by the coroner’s office.

The man was identified by Sacramento County Coroner Kimberly D. Gin as 54-year-old Elliott Pratt. His cause of death will be listed as drowning with other significant conditions, namely “mixed alcohol and drug intoxication.”

While the names of many those who die in accidents, homicides or traffic collisions are released soon after their deaths, Pratt’s case was complicated. Authorities had trouble finding a relative to notify of Pratt’s death.

However, once that was accomplished, coroner’s deputies were efficient in informing his many siblings.

Pratt’s body was found about 9 a.m. Oct. 1 when neighborhood volunteer Judy McClaver was removing trash from the pond.

Initially, she thought Pratt’s body was a large plastic bag. Then, she saw clothing and guessed that someone had tossed soiled apparel into the pond, which she said occurs from time to time.

When she tried to lift the object with a “reacher” device, she found it to be heavy and then discovered that it was a body.

“He was floating head down,” said McClaver at the time. McClaver does volunteer work for the East Sacramento Preservation neighborhood association, including clearing debris from the pond where parents and children toss bread to ducks and geese.

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 6:46 AM.