CATAWBA RIVER, N.C. -- A person jet skiing in a remote part of the Catawba River discovered a body lying on the banks in Mount Holly on Monday afternoon.

Investigators have not yet said if the body belongs to a man or woman or if there are any obvious wounds, but they are investigating it as a homicide and said they hope to positively identify the body soon.

The body was lying next to the open door of a car that appears to have hit a large stump, said Mount Holly Police Chief David Belk.

"To me, that is a concern. How did the vehicle get down there in the first place?" he asked.

The car and body were in a very remote area behind the new YMCA north of Caldwell Drive. Officers had to park their cars and hike to get to the spot. They said it was hard just getting all-terrain vehicles close to the area.

Belk said not only is if hard to get to the site by car, but few boats every travel along that stretch of the river.

"It is all very strange, and because of the circumstances, we are going to treat it that way," Belk said.

He said there was no weapon nearby and the body had not yet begun to decay.

The owner of the Textum Weaving at the end of Caldwell Drive is worried about the find. Police and rescue vehicles lined the street in front of his business.

"You don't expect any think like that happening near you," Aaron Feinberg said.

He said he has been concerned about the amount of traffic going down the path some officers used to get to the site. Feinberg said, "We have a lot of people just hanging out down there, lingering and loitering."

He said he hopes the discovery will encourage police and city officials to put up a fence to keep people from driving down the long path.