KOAT7 Action News had one objective and one objective only when it wrote the headline, “Body found floating in arroyo leads to homicide investigation” — they didn’t want you thinking this was recreational floating. This was homicidal floating.

“The Albuquerque Police Department is investigating a homicide that occurred Monday afternoon after a call of a body floating in an arroyo,” the article began. 

Fifty-five words later they revealed that authorities were called not because of one body non-recreationally floating in the ditch, but two.

“According to officials, Albuquerque Fire Rescue was alerted that there was a person in the Flood Channel near Claremont and Algadones NE. Albuquerque Fire Rescue at that time deployed its Flood Channel Rescue Stations to its designated staging areas and prepared for a rescue. Initial reports were of possibly two people in the Flood Channel. A mannequin and an adult male were spotted further down the Hahn Arroyo, and the male appeared to be deceased and non-viable.”

The mannequin was also non-viable.

Though no additional information was provided, an updated version of the story clarified that law enforcement was no longer investigating the incident as a homicide because the body lacked evidence of trauma. A toxicology report may reveal more.

“Between The Lines” is a series featuring fictional headlines of real events.