MOUNT VERNON, Ohio (WCMH) – A decomposed body was found in a creek in Mount Vernon on Tuesday afternoon, and police said they are treating it as a criminal investigation.

Captain Scott McKnight of the Mount Vernon Police Department said the body was “badly decomposed” when detectives found it early Tuesday afternoon.

McKnight said the detectives were conducting a land search in the Center Run area, near the East Lamartine Street Extension, looking for a missing 64-year-old woman named Whitedove when they found the body in a creek.

McKnight said they could not make a positive identification on the body without an autopsy because it was so decomposed. He said they couldn’t determine the age or gender of the person.

In this quiet neighborhood in Mount Vernon, Ed DeWitt said he is not used to seeing much police activity.

“I came home from the doctor’s office and a couple gentlemen were on each side going down through here,” DeWitt said. “They came up to the house and said there was a dead body there. So naturally I wanted to know what’s going on.”

He showed NBC4 where police found the body in the creek behind his house.

“Every now and then I go down here and hit a few balls, but we hadn’t been out there for a couple days,” DeWitt said.

Police said the Knox County Coroner and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification were on the scene to preserve the body and take photographs. The body was taken to Licking County for an autopsy.

Police said they were treating the situation as a crime scene and a criminal investigation for now. McKnight said an autopsy would be needed to determine who the person was and whether there was foul play.

Whitedove is 64 years old, is 5’6″ and weighs 168 pounds. She has shoulder-length hair with red highlights and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a black leather jacket with fringe, a long dress, and red-framed glasses.