UNSOLVED CA - San Diego Co, Mount Laguna trail, Burned Body, May'10

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A scorched body was found along a hiking trail near Mount Laguna.
A group of hikers discovered the body not far from where Old Highway 80 meets Sunrise Highway around 11:25 a.m. Sunday.
Dectectives had to hike and off-road for more than a mile to get to the location, according to Lt. Dennis Brugos with the San Diego County Sheriff's department.
Homicide detectives are investigating, but it is not yet known if foul play is suspected, Brugos said.
"What they found was a body that was severely burned so badly that we can't even tell if the victim is female or male," he said.
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http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local-beat/Body-Found-on-Mount-Laguna-Hiking-Trail-94709374.html
 
I don't know if this report that the body has been determined to be a man is accurate, since they have the day it was discovered wrong, but maybe the determination of male has been made after all.
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (CBS 8) –The body of a man was found today in Mount Laguna along a remote hiking trail in the East County mountains, a San Diego County sheriff's lieutenant said. http://www.cbs8.com/Global/story.asp?S=12533005
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This was published Wed, May 26, 2010

The county's medical examiner is working to identify the body but detectives said Tuesday that there are no signs the death is a homicide.

"What [hikers] found was a body that was severely burned so badly that we can't even tell if the victim is female or male," Brugos said.
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I wonder how they made the determination that it wasn't pointing to a homicide.

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local-beat/Mount-Laguna-Body-Not-a-Homicide-Deputies-94944094.html
The body appeared to be burned at the location where it was discovered, Brugos said
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.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/may/23/mans-body-found-east-county/
 
it is bizarre Donjeta. I'm trying to envision the scenario. man dies of natural causes near a hiking trail and someone comes along and torches the body? is that how they conclude this was not a homicide?

self-immolation as a form of suicide usually is done to attract attention and does not appear to be the type of suicide someone would do in a remote location:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation
 
I am going to assume that they were able to determine he was dead before being set on fire? That has to be some sort of crime anyway.
 
Maybe it looked like an accidental burning? I don't know how... A tent or a sleeping bag too close to a campfire?
 
Donjeta said:
Maybe it looked like an accidental burning? I don't know how... A tent or a sleeping bag too close to a campfire?
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That's actually quite likely. Much modern high-tech camping gear is quite flammable and covered with warnings about not using camping stoves inside. And Coleman stoves or lanterns have been known to explode when banged around or not properly maintained.

Might also be possible that wildfire went through the area after the body was there.
 
Here's a guy whose vehicle was found about 30 miles (by highway) from where the body was found (the route is much shorter if hiking). The timeframe is about 2 months and he was possibly suicidal.

I'm not sure if his circumstances are consistent with self-immolation, and there is nothing in terms of vital stats to go on (other than that the victim is male)

William Kelly Buntain
buntain_william2.jpg

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/b/buntain_william.html

Here's the Google Map - (A) is the approximate location of the body, and (B) is the approximate location where his vehicle was found.

CA-79 N to Unknown road - Google Maps
 
June 21 2014 update: I couldn't find a thing about this case except the few original articles. He's not in Namus or Doenet that I could find. San Diego seems to list most of their unidentified there, so I suspect he may have been identified and the information kept private.
 
Not in Namus - Mr Buntain mentioned in an earlier post is still missing. He has a number of UID comparisons in Namus.
 
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