ADDIS - A burned body was found in an Addis sugarcane field along Sid Richardson Road on Wednesday afternoon. 

Cane farmer Troy Canella told WBRZ that he saw black smoke in a neighboring field around 3 p.m. He called the owner who said the crop should not be on fire. 

The farmer and his brother rushed out and tried to control the flames. During the rush to not let the fire spread, the farmer stepped next to a body. 

"I walked out and called him and said 'I know why the cane's on fire,'" Canella said.

He said that he found the body in a ditch between two fields. It was covered in broken pieces of sugarcane, and Canella says he believes it could have been there for days.

The West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office is leading the homicide investigation. They arrived at about four o'clock, and as the sun set, the investigation was just getting started.

"You typically don't see standing cane or unharvested cane on fire," Landon Groger with the WBR Sheriff's Office said. "We're taking all of that into consideration."

Canella estimates whoever did it, would have been at the cane field about ten minutes before he and his brother arrived.

East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's deputies are assisting and K-9 officers were in the field to help with the investigation. 

Deputies said it's unclear if the victim is a man or a woman and the body was burned beyond recognition.