Jul 3, 2008 4:26 am US/Pacific
Coroner: Can You Identify The Mummified Body?
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.
The coroner's office is asking for the public's help in identifying a man whose mummified body was discovered in an abandoned house in Beverly Hills last week.
The man's body was found in the 700 block of North Alta Drive near Elevado Avenue on June 26, Lt. John Kadas of the coroner's office said.
Coroner's detectives do not believe foul play was involved. They estimate the man was dead for roughly a year, according to the Beverly Hills Weekly reported.
Teenagers skateboarding near the vacated house smelled a foul odor, which lead them to the corpse inside, Beverly Hills police Lt. Executive Officer Tony Lee told the newspaper.
The body was curled in a fetal position and appeared mummified, Lee said.
The teens were "terrified" and had a relative call police, according to the newspaper.
Based on an assortment of old bags and an old bicycle near the body, officers determined that the deceased was a homeless white man in his 40s or 50s, the newspaper reported.
The cause of his death has not been determined, Kadas said.
Police are currently following up with the property owner, who does not appear to have visited the house in a long time, the Weekly reported.
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