Police: Man found in Newport Beach on Christmas Eve 2013 was Chinese

Bryan Ke
·2 min read
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The Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) has released new details about the unidentified body found in Newport Beach, California, on Christmas Eve in 2013, including a render and the ethnicity of the possible homicide victim.

The OCSD released the new official render of the man in a Facebook post on Monday.

According to the sheriff's department, a commercial fishing vessel found the body of a man about a mile off the coast of Newport Beach on Dec. 24, 2013.

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“Due to the condition of the body, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department is investigating this as a homicide,” Orange County Sheriff’s Sgt. Scott Steinle said about the case.

The OCSD said that at the time, investigators could not determine the ethnicity of the man due to the condition of his body. They initially thought that the man was of Caucasian or Latin American descent.

After revisiting the case in October 2021, investigators extracted a sample from one of the man’s bones and turned it in for advanced DNA analysis. Based on the new genetic information they received, authorities now believe the man was primarily of Chinese descent.

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The OCSD then partnered with forensic artist Carl Koppelman to create a new render of the possible homicide victim.

The man was wearing a black, medium-sized Champion brand sweatshirt, size 11 Asics running shoes and a Timex watch when he was found, Steinle said.

He was described as a 6-foot-tall adult man aged between 30 and 50 years old with a weight of 162 pounds, according to his National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) record.

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On Tuesday, authorities declined to comment on the man’s cause of death.

Those who may have information are asked to contact the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 714-647-7055 or email coldcase@ocsheriff.gov. Anonymous tips may be submitted to OC Crime Stoppers at 855-TIP-OCCS (855-847-6227) or at occrimestoppers.org.

 

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Featured Image via Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Noah Wulf (CC BY-SA 4.0)