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NamUs #UP2616
Demographics
Sex: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Asian
Estimated Age Group: Adult - Pre 50
Estimated Age Range (Years): 40-50
Estimated Year of Death: 1982
Estimated PMI: Days (News reports say only a few hours)
Height: 5'8" (68 inches), Measured
Weight: 150 lbs, Measured
Cause of Death: Homicide by beating
Circumstances
Type: Unidentified Deceased
Date Body Found: September 23, 1982
NamUs Case Created: August 25, 2008
ME/C QA Reviewed: N/A
Location Found: Victorville, California
County: San Bernardino County
Circumstances of Recovery: Shortly before 9 a.m. on September 23, 1982, a county road worker driving a grader back to Helendale "saw a puff of smoke" in the area of Bear Valley Road, southwest of Victorville. He alerted the foreman, who got into a pickup truck and drove to investigate the origin of the smoke. The foreman found that the smoke was emanating from a badly burned body and quickly called authorities.
Due to the severe charring of the remains, a preliminary investigation was unable to conclusively determine the sex, age, or race of the decedent, however authorities believed the death to be a homicide. The area in which the body was found was sparsely settled aside from a small housing development about a mile to the east.
After an autopsy, authorities stated the believed the decedent was an Asian male due to the style of some of the body's dental work. They also said the man had likely been beaten to death elsewhere, and his body later dumped in the desert and doused in an accelerant before being set on fire.
Due to the condition of the remains, authorities were only able to obtain two partial fingerprints from body. Identity may only be established with dental X-rays (on file and see attached) and DNA (refer to CODIS). Possible comparison with "smiling photographs" or "talking video" (showing teeth).
Inventory of Remains: All parts recovered
Condition of Remains: Not recognizable - Charred/burned
Physical Description
Hair Color: Black
Head Hair Description: Black, with some gray
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinctive Physical Features: Small cyst on the back of his neck.
Clothing and Accessories
- Yellow metal belt buckle (On the Body)
News Coverage
Ian Fallis, "Body found, murder suspected," Daily Press [Victorville, CA], 24 September 1982, A1.
Murder is suspected.
The county workers found the body at 8:55 a.m. Thursday, about a quarter mile north of Bear Valley Road and one and a half miles west of Interstate 15.
"The grader operator (Albert Wentworth) saw a puff of smoke and called the foreman (Pat Apodaca) on the radio," said Bill Duncan, Hesperia district supervisor for the county transportation department. Wentworth was taking the grader to Helendale at the time.
When Apodaca went out in a pickup truck and checked the brushy area where Wentworth had seen the smoke, he came upon the body, Duncan said.
The transportation department called the Victorville sheriff's substation with the report of "a possibly burned body" at 9:03 a.m. Thursday. It was unclear this morning whether the body had been blackened by exposure to the sun and heat -- which can happen in just a couple of days -- or had been burned.
[...]
The probe is apparently being conducted as a murder investigation. The release made no specific reference to the investigation but the "incident" line was filled in, "murder."
"Deputy says body found in desert was set on fire," San Bernardino County Sun, 25 September 1982, B3.
A burning body discovered in a brushy desert area south of here Thursday had been beaten before being torched, sheriff's homicide investigators said Friday.
The body, that of a man, possibly 35 to 50 years of age and of Oriental descent, was so badly charred that identification is expected to be difficult, Sgt. Dick Lake said.
The flesh of one hand was completely burned and partial prints could be taken from only two fingers, he said.
[...]
An autopsy conducted Friday showed that the man probably was dead when his body doused with an accelerant such as gasoline and set on fire, he said.
Death probably occurred only hours before the torching, he said.
[...]
The area is sparsely settled except for a small development of new homes about one mile to the east.
Ian Fallis, "Dead man was beaten, set on fire," Daily Press, [Victorville, CA], 28 September 1982, A2.
After the autopsy Friday afternoon, the cause of death "leans toward" beating, Castro said. "But the actual cause is pending," he added. "The internal organs were pretty much intact for a man who had been beaten, except the heart."
To verify the cause of death, "the doctor (county pathologist Irving Root) must complete a microscopic investigation. There were no obvious bullet holes or anything like that.
"It looks like the individual was deceased before the body was set on fire," Castro added. "There was no soot in the nostrils."
[...]
Sgt. Dick Lake, in charge of the sheriff's investigation, said the man had apparently been beaten to death elsewhere, then dumped in the desert and burned. "We don't think he was beaten there -- we can't really tell, but we don't think so," he said.
[...]
They also believe the man is Oriental from the examination of the body's dental work, Castro said. Some of the dental work was different from that taught and used in the United States, and was like that used in Asia.
Demographics
Sex: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Asian
Estimated Age Group: Adult - Pre 50
Estimated Age Range (Years): 40-50
Estimated Year of Death: 1982
Estimated PMI: Days (News reports say only a few hours)
Height: 5'8" (68 inches), Measured
Weight: 150 lbs, Measured
Cause of Death: Homicide by beating
Circumstances
Type: Unidentified Deceased
Date Body Found: September 23, 1982
NamUs Case Created: August 25, 2008
ME/C QA Reviewed: N/A
Location Found: Victorville, California
County: San Bernardino County
Circumstances of Recovery: Shortly before 9 a.m. on September 23, 1982, a county road worker driving a grader back to Helendale "saw a puff of smoke" in the area of Bear Valley Road, southwest of Victorville. He alerted the foreman, who got into a pickup truck and drove to investigate the origin of the smoke. The foreman found that the smoke was emanating from a badly burned body and quickly called authorities.
Due to the severe charring of the remains, a preliminary investigation was unable to conclusively determine the sex, age, or race of the decedent, however authorities believed the death to be a homicide. The area in which the body was found was sparsely settled aside from a small housing development about a mile to the east.
After an autopsy, authorities stated the believed the decedent was an Asian male due to the style of some of the body's dental work. They also said the man had likely been beaten to death elsewhere, and his body later dumped in the desert and doused in an accelerant before being set on fire.
Due to the condition of the remains, authorities were only able to obtain two partial fingerprints from body. Identity may only be established with dental X-rays (on file and see attached) and DNA (refer to CODIS). Possible comparison with "smiling photographs" or "talking video" (showing teeth).
Inventory of Remains: All parts recovered
Condition of Remains: Not recognizable - Charred/burned
Physical Description
Hair Color: Black
Head Hair Description: Black, with some gray
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinctive Physical Features: Small cyst on the back of his neck.
Clothing and Accessories
- Yellow metal belt buckle (On the Body)
News Coverage
Ian Fallis, "Body found, murder suspected," Daily Press [Victorville, CA], 24 September 1982, A1.
Murder is suspected.
The county workers found the body at 8:55 a.m. Thursday, about a quarter mile north of Bear Valley Road and one and a half miles west of Interstate 15.
"The grader operator (Albert Wentworth) saw a puff of smoke and called the foreman (Pat Apodaca) on the radio," said Bill Duncan, Hesperia district supervisor for the county transportation department. Wentworth was taking the grader to Helendale at the time.
When Apodaca went out in a pickup truck and checked the brushy area where Wentworth had seen the smoke, he came upon the body, Duncan said.
The transportation department called the Victorville sheriff's substation with the report of "a possibly burned body" at 9:03 a.m. Thursday. It was unclear this morning whether the body had been blackened by exposure to the sun and heat -- which can happen in just a couple of days -- or had been burned.
[...]
The probe is apparently being conducted as a murder investigation. The release made no specific reference to the investigation but the "incident" line was filled in, "murder."
"Deputy says body found in desert was set on fire," San Bernardino County Sun, 25 September 1982, B3.
A burning body discovered in a brushy desert area south of here Thursday had been beaten before being torched, sheriff's homicide investigators said Friday.
The body, that of a man, possibly 35 to 50 years of age and of Oriental descent, was so badly charred that identification is expected to be difficult, Sgt. Dick Lake said.
The flesh of one hand was completely burned and partial prints could be taken from only two fingers, he said.
[...]
An autopsy conducted Friday showed that the man probably was dead when his body doused with an accelerant such as gasoline and set on fire, he said.
Death probably occurred only hours before the torching, he said.
[...]
The area is sparsely settled except for a small development of new homes about one mile to the east.
Ian Fallis, "Dead man was beaten, set on fire," Daily Press, [Victorville, CA], 28 September 1982, A2.
After the autopsy Friday afternoon, the cause of death "leans toward" beating, Castro said. "But the actual cause is pending," he added. "The internal organs were pretty much intact for a man who had been beaten, except the heart."
To verify the cause of death, "the doctor (county pathologist Irving Root) must complete a microscopic investigation. There were no obvious bullet holes or anything like that.
"It looks like the individual was deceased before the body was set on fire," Castro added. "There was no soot in the nostrils."
[...]
Sgt. Dick Lake, in charge of the sheriff's investigation, said the man had apparently been beaten to death elsewhere, then dumped in the desert and burned. "We don't think he was beaten there -- we can't really tell, but we don't think so," he said.
[...]
They also believe the man is Oriental from the examination of the body's dental work, Castro said. Some of the dental work was different from that taught and used in the United States, and was like that used in Asia.
