Chula Vista : Police Probe Hanging Death

A coroner investigating the mysterious death of a 21-year-old man found hanging from a tree next to Interstate 805 in Chula Vista said Sunday that the autopsy showed no signs of foul play, but investigators have ruled out suicide.

Chuck Bolton, a deputy San Diego County coroner, said an autopsy Sunday on the body of Jeffrey Scott Hanson of Chula Vista suggested Hanson died of asphyxia due to hanging, but, “We’re sure it was not a suicide.”

Bolton said the autopsy also turned up no “external trauma” on Hanson’s body, which police say was found by friends six days after Hanson disappeared. Bolton said there were “no obvious signs of foul play or an altercation.”

Neither Bolton nor the Chula Vista police would discuss their suspicions about the case; they said simply that it remains under investigation. Routine toxicology tests are being done to determine whether there were drugs or alcohol in Hanson’s body.

Hanson, who police said was working at Nelson & Sloan Concrete and Materials Co. in Chula Vista during a strike in recent weeks, left home Oct. 13, telling roommates he planned to walk to the Plaza Bonita shopping center, police said.

Hanson’s roommates reported him missing the following day. A group of relatives and friends on Saturday found the body in a canyon 200 feet west of the ramp leading from westbound California 54 to southbound I-805.

Police said Hanson was naked. His clothes were stacked nearby.

“There’s no reason for him to take his own life,” Bolton said Sunday, citing interviews with Hanson’s family and friends. “There’s no past history of depression, no reason, no previous attempts.”

Nor was there any reason Sunday to suspect that the death might be related to Hanson’s work or to the strike, Bolton said.