"But as I got a little closer, it was bigger than a bedroll. And I recognized it was a body," DiLeo said. "It was visible from the path."
DiLeo said the man was face down, and his right arm was pinned under his body. He saw blood around the man's head and checked to see if he was breathing. There was more blood under the body, he said.
"I knew not to touch him," DiLeo said.
"He looked like he was struck over the head."
DiLeo said the man, whom he described as big, was wearing a blue overcoat with the hood covering the top part of his head.
After his discovery, DiLeo ran from the towpath and flagged down a neighbor to call 911, then went back to the scene to wait for authorities, he said.
Helen Foster, who lives near the area, said she and other residents have voiced concerns to the Maryland State Police and the Sheriff's Department and asked about increasing police coverage in the area.
Foster described Keep Tryst Road as a problem area for vandalism and said cars speed up and down the road near where the body was found.
The towpath in the Southern section of Washington County is near the Appalachian Trail just west of the Frederick County line where the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers meet.
