Possible human remains found in fire pit on San Diego’s Fiesta Island

A homicide investigation was underway Thursday on Fiesta Island after a man picking up trash found what appeared to be human remains in a fire pit, a San Diego police official said.

The man made the discovery on the east end of the peninsular park shortly after 10:30 a.m. and flagged down lifeguards, who called police. Officers sent a picture of the find to a forensic anthropologist, who confirmed that they looked like human remains, police Lt. Matt Dobbs said.

He declined to provide further details about what was found.

“I’m not going to disclose at this time just to protect the integrity of the investigation just in case they are human remains and that becomes an integral part of the investigation,” he told reporters at the scene.

According to local TV news reports, the remains included what looked like a skull and teeth.

Dobbs said the San Diego County medical examiner’s office will examine the remains to determine whether they are human. He said he didn’t know how long that will take.

The lieutenant said it’s not uncommon for police to respond to reports of human remains.

“Typically they’re not” human, he said. “They’re animal remains or something like that. To find actual human remains is not very common.”

Kucher and Hernandez write for the San Diego Union-Tribune.