Body found in area of Southern California charred by wildfire
By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A body has been found in an area of the California seaside town of Malibu left blackened by a massive wildfire in November, and investigators were trying to determine if the victim was slain or died in the flames, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
The skeletal remains were discovered late on Monday afternoon and homicide detectives, joined by investigators from the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, responded to the scene at first light on Tuesday, Deputy Trina Schrader said.
Schrader said the Coroner's Office would conduct an autopsy to help determine the identity of the victim, who could be either a man or a woman, and whether foul play was involved.
"This is a death investigation and it is being investigated by our homicide bureau," she said, adding that there were no visible indications of violence at the scene or to what was left of the remains.
Sheriff's officials asked members of the public to come forward if they had any information about the case.
The body is the second to be discovered in the area left devastated by the Woolsey Fire, which broke out on Nov. 8 and charred 96,000 acres in the hills above Malibu before it was contained.
On Nov. 17 a homeowner surveying damage to his property came across partial skeletal remains. Investigators are still seeking to identify those remains, which they believe were left before the conflagration, and a cause of death.
The Woolsey, one of several major blazes which erupted during a particularly fierce wildfire season across California, was known to have killed three civilians and injured three firefighters. More than 1,500 structures were destroyed by the flames and 341 others were damaged.
The Camp Fire, which erupted on the same day, roared through the foothill community of Paradise in Northern California, killing at least 86 people and burning down more than 18,000 structures to become deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state history.
Combined losses from the Camp and Woolsey wildfires have been estimated at between $9 billion and $13 billion.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Leslie Adler)
