Body Found Dumped Near Freeway

A dead man with several trash bags over his head and a blood-soaked cloth around his neck was found Thursday morning near the Golden State Freeway, authorities said.

A passing motorist found the clothed body lying face up about 10 feet west of the freeway near Magic Mountain Parkway about 6:50 a.m., said Lt. R. David Dietrich of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The man’s identity is still unknown, Dietrich said, but authorities believe he was killed elsewhere and then dumped.

Dietrich said several pieces of identification giving addresses in South Los Angeles were found on the body, but that different names appear on some of them.

“It’s not unusual to leave bodies by the freeway,” Dietrich said. “It is a little unusual to leave the IDs with them.”

The cause of death is being investigated by the coroner’s office.

“He may have been shot, or stabbed, or beaten,” Dietrich said. “We just don’t know.”

Because the body was visible from the freeway, sheriff’s investigators believe motorists may have seen it dumped there, Dietrich said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s homicide bureau at (213) 890-5500 or the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station at (805) 255-1121.