LOS PADRES FOREST : Coroner Still Trying to Identify Bones

Ventura County coroner’s investigators are trying to unravel a mystery surrounding the death of a man whose skeletal remains were found over the weekend in the county’s favorite dumping ground for murder victims more than 20 miles northeast of Ojai.

Scouring the rugged backcountry, sheriff’s deputies found most of the man’s bones, but not enough teeth to identify him through dental records, coroner’s Investigator Dale Zentzis said. So far, he said, the best clue to his identity is a pair of unusually wide cowboy boots.

“The boot size is 8 1/2 double-E,” Zentzis said. “That means the wearer had relatively short feet that were extremely wide. We’re hoping somebody who knew him might hear about the discovery and call us.”

The bones were found Saturday by a hiker and his dog on Pine Mountain, about three miles east of California 33 deep in Los Padres National Forest.

A Sheriff’s Department search-and-rescue unit found the bones scattered around an area off Pine Mountain Road at an elevation of more than 4,000 feet, Zentzis said. The bones had apparently been scattered by animals, he said.

Zentzis said the victim was between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 10 inches tall and was at least 20 years old. He had been dead six months to a year, he said.

“At this stage, we don’t know whether he was a victim of foul play or was simply a hiker who lost his way or was injured,” Zentzis said. “People who dump the bodies of murder victims don’t usually go that far off the highway.”

The discovery brings to seven the number of bodies found along California 33, known as Maricopa Highway, since 1980. In all, more than two dozen bodies have been discovered in isolated areas of the county in the past decade.

Zentzis said the deceased man was wearing jeans and beige boots with reddish tops.

“We’re hoping to find enough teeth to help identify him, but so far we haven’t been able to do that,” Zentzis said.