Corpse Dumped After Overdose, Police Say

The 25-year-old man found dead in a sleeping bag by the Garden Grove Freeway on Tuesday may have overdosed on drugs elsewhere and been dumped there, police said Wednesday.

“Everything we have leads to drug overdose,” said Sgt. Doug Morrill of the death of James John Nemerovsky. “We found hypodermic needle marks on his arm and everything else points to that.”

A local businessman found Nemerovsky in the sleeping bag at 6:55 a.m. Tuesday and called police. When they unzipped the sleeping bag, which was also tied shut with a cord, they found Nemerovsky inside it, wrapped in a blanket that was bound with duct tape. Morrill said Nemerovsky did not have a shirt on, but wore what appeared to be brand new jeans and tennis shoes.

Morrill added that it is possible Nemerovsky was dumped in the parking lot after dying somewhere else.

“It is not uncommon for that to happen,” Morrill said. “If he were doing drugs at a friend’s house and he overdosed and died, they could have dumped the body to avoid having any part of it.”

The cause of death was still undetermined after an autopsy. Investigators are waiting for the results of toxicological tests, which could confirm their drug overdose theory.

Morrill said Nemerovsky has a list of prior arrests for drug use and possession. He was released from Corcoran State Prison last Thursday after serving six months for violating his parole.

Nemerovsky, a former resident of Orange County, had been in the area about a week and was staying with friends, Morrill said.

Nemerovsky was found in the parking lot of an industrial complex at 10322 Trask Ave., next to the freeway, by a construction manager for California Sauna, one of the businesses in the complex.