The death of a Minnesota truck driver, whose body was found early Tuesday on the Kansas Turnpike, has been ruled an accident by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

The body of Mitchell Staab, 27, was found about 1:50 a.m. Tuesday in a creek bed that’s 15 to 20 feet below the westbound lanes of the turnpike. The site is about a mile east of the East Lawrence exit.

A Kansas Highway Patrol trooper said Staab and another semitrailer driver stopped to offer help with a one-vehicle accident Monday night. The trooper said he declined and asked the men to return to their trucks.

About 11:30 p.m., the same trooper noticed one of the semis was still parked near the accident site. The trooper began to search for the driver and later found his body.