Identified! CA - San Diego Co., Blk/Hisp Fem, 25-35, Lake Hodges, Oct'15 - Marisol Lopez

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(Escondido is in the North County part of San Diego County)

This weekend on the (unincorporated) Escondido side of Lake Hodges the human remains of a female were found off of the very (heavily used) walking trail.

It seemed like most everyone expected it to be a missing 20-ish year old young man who had gone missing in Escondido about 6 weeks earlier but news broke yesterday it was actually a female.

LE is asking for public assistance in identifying who the remains belong to.

The remains were examined by the county Medical Examiner's Office, which determined they likely were that of a black or Latina woman, 25 to 35 years old, and 5 feet 3 inches or 5 feet 4 inches tall.

She wore a shorts and what sheriff's homicide Lt. Kenn Nelson called a unique athletic jersey and a distinctive ring. He gave no further description of those items.

She is believed to have died three to six weeks ago, Nelson said in a statement on Tuesday. He did not say if the cause of her death had been determined.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/oct/20/skeletal-remains-body-lake-hodges/
 
The remains were discovered near a walking trail off the 19900 block of Lake Drive in the Del Dios area about 7:30 a.m. Saturday, sheriff's Lt. Kenn Nelson said.

<snip>

Anyone who might be able to help investigators determine her identity was asked to call San Diego County Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477 or contact the agency online at sdcrimestoppers.org. Tipsters may remain anonymous and could be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.

http://www.cbs8.com/story/30311172/...help-to-identify-woman-found-near-lake-hodges
 
For those unfamiliar, Lake Hodges is where Chelsea King's remains were found - only she was found on what's basically the southern side of the lake on the San Diego side (what's the Westwood area of Rancho Bernardo, really)

Lake Hodges has HEAVILY used trails on virtually all sides of it and on weekends, especially, it can border on crowded.

There are side trails and stuff that come off of some of the main ones that less used, but unless you truly go off of all paths/trails, it'd be rare to have something or someone not found within 12-24 in almost the entire area.

In both cases - Chelsea's body and now these remains - they were found more off the trail and at the edge of the water.

Here's video that shows a little better where these were found (most pictures are more of the paths/trails and don't show toward the water and off the path)

https://twitter.com/HopeCBS8/status/655505011300941824

It's more rare to have people going toward the totally off path ways down to the water b/c the water level is VERY low - my yard that used to have a view of the lake hasn't had one in ages!) and frankly is pretty nasty.

There are some places that are more accessible and people let their dogs go in - but dogs are technically not allowed within 50 feet of the shoreline at any point, nor in boats (which there are major restrictions on and now are a much lesson common site due to the water level)

Where the remains were found are not that far from Del Dios Park, but it's not truly a park (like playground) and is a place it'd be easier to try to get down to the water.
 
It'd be a hard place to dump a body unless someone attacked someone running on the path (like happened with Chelsea) because the area where these remains were found are quite close to some homes, and it's a neighborhood that's quite aware of people coming and going because of the trails that pass near them.

It's kind of what they call a 'traffic calmed' area to prevent it from becoming a thorough-fare off of the single lane each direction curving Del Dios Highway. And I know there at least used to be many homes with cameras over in that area. I've not walked that portion in awhile so I'm not sure if that's still the case.

It'd be difficult to use it as a dumping ground without attracting attention because of all of the above, and because of the high frequency use of the area.

And it's really not somewhere that someone could 'happen on' if they were trying to find a place to dump someone they'd done something to elsewhere because you can get to it particularly directly or really en route between other real locations without knowing and scouting things out.

Like I said, it's VERY heavily traveled place.

And MANY people are out with dogs (so it's surprising a body could have been there 3-6 weeks and no one else had stumbled on it with their dog before the woman who did this weekend!)

Everyone I know in the area under their 70's hikes or runs or walks at the trails at Hodges at least periodically. And I'm not saying that facetiously!

They've put in a nice pedestrian bridge about 6 years ago to link the two sides of the lake more directly, and that's increased traffic on the Escondido side in areas where they used to not get as much foot traffic because it was harder to park in some places on that side.
 
Anyway, none of my searches yesterday turned up any reported women fitting the demographics of these remains in a reasonably large area.

The specific ring and unique athletic top (whatever that means) seem like the most likely things to be useful, but also harder to try to find someone from in searching online.

The clothing seems to fit what would be typical of someone walking/running/hiking there - and far less likely to be a transient who succumbed to something physically or due to the heat or something (especially since there have been no reports of the woman having anything with her)

But I find it hard to believe there'd be someone in our area that's an unreported missing individual who's still been unreported 3-6 weeks later.

Even single women who go out walking/running there who might not have family who would notice they'd not have returned would surely have had an employer or SOMEONE in their life who would have reported something by now, I'd think.

So maybe you all will find someone I'm not in any of my digging!

As a local who uses the trails at Hodges often and who lives within eyeshot of it, it definitely gets my attention (especially if it ends up being homicide and not natural causes b/c that'd be the second time in a few years in the same otherwise really quite safe area!)
 
A few more images just for those who like visuals to get an idea of the area - there's a lot of chaparral and scrub brush if you go off the trails - and the body seems to have been on the other side of the chaparral toward the water's edge where in some areas it's clear again.

CRj6o1DUcAAIInw.jpg


Because I have them, I took these during the Chelsea King case when the search was still going on trying to help with a visual of the whole area when posting on here.

These are from quite close to where the current remains were found, only from higher up above the trail and a bit south of the remains location.

4399179371_a4c5968219_b.jpg


4399946498_53e3136861_b.jpg


It feels like a lifetime ago in terms of discussion, and the thought of digging through all the endless threads to figure out why pics from that side were relevant (since unlike the others I had taken them after she was found but during the case discussion) and what exactly all of the other symbols on this map I had been doing then meant, but...

The purple camera up at the very, very top edge of the map (kind of opposite the Christmas tree) is where one of those two above photos was taken.

The other stuff had to do with search areas and where I had photos of and where boats and copters were at various points (it was all in some legend w/ working links way back then!)

For those curious the proximity to Chelsea, she was found kind where one of the blue sailboats between the yellow outline area w/ the red triangle/exclamation mark symbol and the green outline area by a green arrow thing.

4399445379_4e0a892133_z.jpg


My vague recollection at this point is that they had found something actually very close to the current remains during Chelsea's case and that LE thought it might be related to the Amber Dubois case.

Since John Gardner (who killed both Chelsea King and Amber Dubois) was arrested also very near the current remains location at a restaurant called Hernandez' Hideaway, the find had them thinking it could lead to Amber (he eventually revealed where she was buried as part of a plea deal)

I think that's the backstory on the above pics :)
 
What does 'HFA/AFA 25-35' mean? TIA
 
What does 'HFA/AFA 25-35' mean? TIA

I think it could mean "Hispanic Female Adult" and/or "African-American Female Adult" but I'd never seen these particular abbreviations used before.

The quoted story says Latina or black, so that's where I'm deducing that from.
I would have thought AFA would have meant "Asian Female Adult" had I not noticed what was bolded in the story.
 
I just came across this article about a missing woman who fits the description of the UID: Elizabeth Sullivan

The article states the only thing that doesn't fit is Ms. Sullivan went missing a year ago and the decedent is estimated to have died only 3-6 weeks ago


http://www.missingpersonsofamerica.com/2015/10/is-remains-found-near-lake-hodges.html

Good sleuthing, Dylgem22. I thought of missing Elizabeth Sullivan when I heard a body had been found at Lake Hodges. Yes, she's been missing a longer time, but I can think of any number of scenarios that make me pause and wonder if it's her.


Elizabeth Sullivan, 31, missing 10-13-2014
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...izabeth-Sullivan-31-San-Diego-13-October-2014
 
I think it could mean "Hispanic Female Adult" and/or "African-American Female Adult" but I'd never seen these particular abbreviations used before.

The quoted story says Latina or black, so that's where I'm deducing that from.
I would have thought AFA would have meant "Asian Female Adult" had I not noticed what was bolded in the story.

Thanks, bflocket. I've never seen these before either.
 
I can't find a single update on this case? Being a local in San Diego, it really bothers me that missing and unidentified people get such little press.

My first thought was Elizabeth too but she's been missing for a year.
 
Doesn't mean she didn't die 3-6 weeks earlier, though.
 

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