Body found in The Woodlands possibly missing man from Harris County

Homicide and Violent Crimes Deceive Sgt. Paul Hahs with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office investigates the discovery of the body of a male in a wooded area near Dakota Ridge Place, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2017, in The Woodlands. less Homicide and Violent Crimes Deceive Sgt. Paul Hahs with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office investigates the discovery of the body of a male in a wooded area near Dakota Ridge Place, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2017, ... more Photo: Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle Photo: Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Body found in The Woodlands possibly missing man from Harris County 1 / 14 Back to Gallery

THE WOODLANDS – A neighbor's sharp intuition Wednesday led to the discovery of a body in The Woodlands, and detectives believe it could be linked to a missing person from Harris County.

A resident on Dakota Ridge Place, which is near the intersection of Flintridge and Kuykendahl in The Woodlands, noticed a truck that was parked in his neighbor's driveway had been there for a few days. The truck's back window was open, and the recent deluge of rain caused water to pool inside the cab.

Curious, the man called his out-of-town neighbors to see whether they were aware of the truck. They said they didn't know who it belonged to, so the man called 911.

Montgomery County Sheriff's deputies ran the truck's license plate and discovered it was linked to a man who had been reported missing Sunday. That's when deputies made the gruesome discovery.

"Deputies began searching the woods behind the residence and found (a man) deceased in a shallow body of water," MCSO Homicide and Violent Crimes Detective Sgt. Paul Hahs said. "It's still an ongoing investigation. We don't see any obvious signs of foul play at this time."

Debra Tuohy, who lives on the street, gathered with about a half-dozen of her neighbors as detectives did their work, all intrigued and shocked about what had developed. One neighbor said the neighborhood had been somewhat immune to any traumatic events like this, saying the most interesting thing to happen recently was a drunk driver being arrested in someone's driveway.

"It's a very quiet neighborhood," Tuohy said. "It's full of empty-nesters."

The home near where the body was found backs up to Spring Creek Greenway just north of the Montgomery-Harris County line. There are many small creeks that run behind the street as well as a small pond.

The missing man, whose identity was not released Wednesday, is a 24-year-old white male. Hahs said the body that was found was described as a white male in his mid to late 20s.

Deputies previously had been out at the home on Dakota Ridge Place around midnight Monday after another resident there thought he heard someone crying for help from the same patch of woods where the body was found.

"A neighbor thought he heard someone hollering for help from the woods," Hahs said. "Sheriff's deputies responded and listened out for a while. They heard sounds but couldn't tell whether it was a human or animal. They looked around but couldn't find anything."

Hahs said the Ford F-150 was seen in the driveway during that call, although it was hardly any cause for alarm at that time. He said detectives are looking into whether Monday's call was related to the body that was discovered.

"It's really hard to say," Hahs said. "Without them being able to say for sure it was a person hollering, I wouldn't want to make a guess."

The identification of the body was not released as of 5 p.m. Wednesday.