EAST CHICAGO | A body found floating in the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal on Tuesday may be that of an East Chicago man last seen bobbing in the frigid waters more than three weeks ago.

Investigators with the Lake County coroner's office said DNA testing will be required for a positive identification of the badly decomposed body of a black man. The body was spotted by a tugboat captain shortly before 8 a.m. on the southwest side of the Dickey Road drawbridge.

The body's height and clothing match those of 57-year-old Calumet neighborhood resident Robert Ricky Johnson, who police said jumped or fell into the south branch of the canal near 151st Street while being pursued by officers April 13.

Police responding to a report of a trespasser on the property of a scrap yard that morning said they recognized Johnson from prior contacts as he ran from them along the shoreline and ended up in the water.

The air was 34 degrees, and the water just 42 degrees. Officers described watching a strong current pull Johnson to the middle of the canal, where he went under and did not resurface.

A helicopter and divers with the Lake County Sheriff's Department and a sonar-equipped boat from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources searched the canal, which is considered to be the most polluted waterway in the Great Lakes ecosystem. They didn't find Johnson.

Johnson's family formally reported him as a missing person April 25.

An autopsy was conducted Wednesday on the body, which was found about two miles north of where Johnson was last seen. There were no visible signs of trauma and an official cause of death is pending, according to the coroner's office.

Results of the DNA analysis are expected in two or three weeks.