Corpse May Be That of Missing Witness in Berkeley Beating Case

Medical investigators Thursday used X-ray charts to try to determine if a headless, handless corpse is that of a missing Berkeley waterfront commissioner, a crucial witness in an attempted-murder case against a former colleague.

But authorities said they expect no immediate results from the examination, adding that it could be weeks before it is determined if the body is that of Luis Reyna.

“This really could be anyone, but admittedly there is some reason to believe it might be Reyna, and that’s why we’re pursuing that possibility,” said Capt. Russ Pitkin, a Contra Costa County sheriff’s investigator.

Reyna disappeared July 18 after leaving home to meet with Enrique Zambrano, an ex-waterfront commissioner charged with the Jan. 31 attempted murder of UC Berkeley professor Robert Mishell and his wife, Barbara.

Tells of Confession

Reyna, 32, had told police that Zambrano, who has since disappeared, confessed to the brutal beatings of the Mishells, according to court documents. He also told police that Zambrano threatened him if he told authorities of the confession.

Zambrano, who resigned from the Waterfront Commission in May, had been released from jail on $150,000 bail the Friday before Reyna’s disappearance.

Berkeley police issued an arrest warrant for Zambrano on July 21, charging him with homicide in the disappearance of Reyna, a UC administrative assistant.

Comparison of the corpse with Reyna’s medical charts is “doubly more difficult than is normally the case” because Reyna had no known surgical scars, deformities, tattoos or other body marks, said Sgt. Richard Terry, division commander of the county coroner’s office.

The maimed and nude body, in advanced stages of decomposition and torn up by various animals, was found Tuesday by a hiker in rugged terrain off Happy Valley Road near Lafayette, a San Francisco suburb. A severed hand believed to belong to the corpse was found a week earlier about a mile away near another rural road.

Sheriff’s investigators said that the hand had been severed by a “single and very powerful blow.”

The coroner’s office said the corpse is that of a Caucasian adult male, possibly of Hispanic heritage.

Investigators obtained partial fingerprints from the hand, but have not been able to find Reyna’s prints on record to make a comparison, according to Terry.

Test Results Awaited

A check with the state Department of Justice and the Department of Motor Vehicles failed to turn up any of Reyna’s prints on file.

Toxicological tests done earlier this week should reveal the cause of death, but results will not be available for three weeks, Terry said.

The day before he disappeared, Zambrano telephoned Reyna, according to Reyna’s mother, Helen. The next day, Luis Reyna left the family home, saying he was “going around the corner” to meet Zambrano and warning his family to call police if he did not return. He never came back.

Robert Mishell has recovered from the attack, but Barbara Mishell, a laboratory aide to her husband in the university’s immunology department, suffered permanent disabilities caused by multiple skull fractures.

Zambrano was to have faced a preliminary hearing Sept. 20 on the beating charges. Police have not publicly discussed a motive in that case.