Nov. 03--Authorities say they have no explanation for the sudden spike in human remains found in and around the Angeles National Forest this past weekend, but said that with a predicted rainy winter ahead, more could emerge.
In a span of two days starting on Halloween, Los Angeles County sheriff's homicide detectives and coroner's investigators were called out to three separate areas off forest trails after hikers and hunters found a skull and spine, a femur and a hand.
"I don't have an explanation for why in such a short period of time we have all these recoveries," said homicide Lt. Victor Lewandowski. "It's getting everybody's attention because they start going through their cases. 'Do I have a missing persons, [or] a foul-play case?'"
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The first find of the weekend was a skull, vertebrae and pelvic bone in an "extremely remote" area of Pine Canyon near the Upper Shake Campground in Lake Hughes, Lewandowski said.
The bones were found about 7 p.m. Saturday, but investigators didn't go out to the scene until Sunday when it was daylight. There appeared to be some trauma to the remains but it's too early to tell what that means, he said. There was some clothes found with the skeleton, but even those were ambiguous to the person's gender.
The mandible was found with the skull so dental records may give detectives a lead, he said.
On Sunday afternoon, hikers found a hand near a remote hiking trial north of Tujunga. Hours later, a femur was found at the basin of a canyon in the 2800 block of Tanoble Drive in Altadena.
The coroner has not determined the time or cause of death for any of the remains or identified their respective sexes.
There's no indication any of the finds are related to one another, and all three are separate investigations, Lewandowski said. But combine those with a skull that was found in mid-October off Glendora Ridge Road, and authorities acknowledge the string of finds is out of the ordinary.
But it may just be the beginning, Lewandowski said.
"I expect if we have El Niwe may see an uptick in stuff that washes down the hill or is unearthed. It's hard to say what is out in the hills," he said.
For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna.
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