I think it was only recently that the remains were formally identified as Oscar Fuentes, but had been presumed to be his based on circumstantial evidence. I say this because the LA Times article from November 2025 seems to have the trial proceedings as a source and it says this:This article from 2021 makes reference to the remains being identified as Oscar Fuentes as well, but he was only entered into NamUs as missing in April 2025. The unidentified remains were actively listed in the LA County catalog until recently and Oscar Fuentes was only added to the normal case search in the past few days.
New murders and more MS-13 members added to sprawling case against gang's clique
Federal prosecutors expanded a case against the MS-13 gang, securing an indictment that charges nine new defendants and implicates the gang in four murders.www.latimes.com
"Fuentes’ remains were never located. Detectives found only a skull, unearthed, like Andino’s bones, after a wildfire, with a bullet hole through the forehead.
Martinez’s lawyer, Shaun Khojayan, argued it was possible that Fuentes simply disappeared and is still alive."
MS-13 gangsters used mountains around L.A. as killing grounds, prosecutors say
Members of the MS-13 gang used the Angeles National Forest and other isolated mountain areas as the locale for a series of grisly killings, prosecutors argued at a racketeering trial in downtown Los Angeles.
www.latimes.com
I don't think that the defense would argue that Fuentes could still be alive if there was definite evidence that the skull belonged to OF.
However, another article from November 2025 states this:
Fuentes’ complete remains have never formally been recovered. However, on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019, nine months after Fuentes disappeared, deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department received a report of human remains near mile marker .62 of Sand Canyon Road.
[...]
The remains were a human skull with a bullet hole, unearthed after the Tick Fire burned through the area. Federal investigators later identified the remains as Fuentes.
Federal Jury Deliberates In MS-13 Murder Trial Linked To Santa Clarita Killing, Tick Fire Remains
A federal jury has begun deliberations this week in the racketeering and murder trial of five alleged MS-13 gang members accused of carryi...
www.hometownstation.com
This is clear as mud!
