Body Identified as That of Missing Jockey Hansen

A badly decomposed body found last week on a levee near the San Mateo Bridge in Northern California was identified Monday as that of Ron Hansen, the jockey who has been missing for more than three months.

Confirmation that the body was Hansen’s came from the Alameda County sheriff’s office after a comparison of dental records. The body was discovered by a truck driver last Thursday.

Hansen, who would have been 34 on Jan. 5, had been missing since an early morning accident on the bridge on Oct. 2. Hansen’s white English sports car was reported to be traveling at speeds of 100 m.p.h. when it rear-ended another car in the eastbound lane. The other car flipped over, causing minor injuries to the occupants, while Hansen’s car continued about a mile on the bridge before stopping.

Although Hansen’s car was headed in the direction of his home in Alameda, he had called his wife, Renee, about an hour before the accident to say that he would be spending the night with friends on the San Mateo side of the bridge. Hansen was reported missing the next day after he failed to report to ride at Bay Meadows.

Dan Apperson, supervising coroner for Alameda County, said Monday that a cause of death would not be known for three to six weeks. Det. Frank Daley of the Hayward police said that an investigation into Hansen’s death would be based on the autopsy.

“It looks as though the body had been under water all this time,” Daley said. “We have no idea what the cause of death might be. Until we get the coroner’s report, everything’s in the realm of speculation.”

Hansen’s body was found about a quarter of a mile from the bridge.

“It doesn’t make sense that he would have attempted suicide,” said Randy Keenan, a sergeant with the Alameda police. “There’s only about a 10-foot drop from that end of the bridge, and the water in that area is only between two and eight feet deep.”

Keenan said that nothing in his investigation indicated that Hansen had been murdered.

“As far as we can tell, he received no threats,” Keenan said. “We’ve found nobody that had an ax to grind. There’s been nothing that would link this to foul play.”

Friends and relatives of Hansen were disappointed that his body was not found sooner.

“The Coast Guard went over that area, and so did Cal Trans,” Keenan said. “All I can think is that maybe they did their searches too soon, before the body wound up where it was. As it was, the body was hardly visible. If the truck driver hadn’t seen the clothing with it, I don’t think he would have spotted it at all.”

Hansen rode more than 3,600 winners and his horses earned more than $40 million. A native of Idaho, he broke in at tracks there in 1976 before moving to Canada, where he was that country’s leading apprentice in 1978 and the third-leading apprentice in North America. The next year, he was Canada’s leading rider.

Starting in the 1980s, Hansen rode in California, winning five titles at Golden Gate Fields and Bay Meadows and leading the Los Angeles County Fair meet in Pomona four consecutive years. Hansen rode six winners on a card at Golden Gate in 1990 and in 1991 he finished with 342 winners, fifth nationally.

Hansen rode Video Ranger to a fourth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby in 1990, the same year Golden Gate ruled him off the track for five weeks during a race-fixing investigation. Hansen was reinstated by the California Horse Racing Board in time to ride in the Derby.

Hansen’s survivors include his wife, a 2-year-old son and his parents. Burial is expected to be later this week in Idaho. A memorial service is scheduled to be held after the races Wednesday at Bay Meadows.