Decayed body found; ID, cause of death sought

Sheriff’s investigators were converging on a ravine behind homes late Tuesday in an effort to determine the identity and cause of death of human skeletal remains discovered by a pair of joggers.

The decaying skull and bones were found about 2:15 p.m. on a fire access trail behind the 22400 block of Caracas Street.

“There’s a creek and a pond there; it’s possible somebody fell in,” said sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino. “It’s also possible it’s a homicide.”

He said investigators hoped to use dental records and missing-person reports to identify the remains, which appeared to have been there one to two years.

“Anything’s possible at this point,” Amormino said, adding that investigators expected to resume their work today. “We just don’t know what we have.”