SAN CLEMENTE – A Marine was found shot to death Thursday near the Camp Pendleton military base, authorities said.

A hiker found the victim, described as a 21-year-old man from the Sacramento area, in a drainage ditch in a hilly area of San Clemente, which is just outside the base, Orange County Sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said.

The active-duty Marine had been shot in the torso, Amormino said.

Authorities were withholding the man's identity until his wife can be notified by military officials.