A badly decomposed body was found in a St. Paul drainage ditch Monday afternoon by a worker.

An Xcel Energy maintenance employee found the body around 4:30 p.m. near Randolph Avenue and W. Seventh Street, said Steve Linders, a spokesman for the Police Department.

The body is so decomposed that authorities have not been able to determine age or gender, Linders said.

"We don't even know how long he or she had been there," he added.

It could take some time before investigators have any information about the person or the cause of death, Linders said.