Tip Leads Searchers to Human Remains

A search and rescue team discovered scattered human skeletal remains in the Mount Pinos area over the weekend and fear the bones may be those of a Ventura teenager missing since October.

Authorities believe the remains are those of 17-year-old Nichole Lee Hendrix, an outgoing Pacific High School student who failed to return home moments after calling her mom to say she was on her way.

Acting on a tip, the sheriff’s search and rescue team began covering the grounds near Pine Mountain Saturday morning, authorities said. By noon, a member of the team discovered the scattered and badly decomposed remains.

Coroner’s officials are trying to identify the body through dental records, but sheriff’s detectives think the body could belong to Hendrix.

“That’s our main belief right now,” said sheriff’s Sgt. Bob LeMay.

Medical examiners performed an autopsy Monday and results are expected today, coroner’s officials said.

Hendrix, known as “Nickki,” was last seen by her friends on Oct. 15 wearing a white T-shirt and blue shorts and carrying a black purse. Friends told authorities that Hendrix, a blond who had recently cropped her hair short and dyed it black, was with a female acquaintance in a red Dodge Dakota pickup driving through the west Ventura area. The pickup, later found abandoned in a Ventura neighborhood, is believed to belong to another friend of Hendrix.

The girl’s parents told authorities their daughter had run away from home before, but always made sure she called to say she was OK, authorities said.