MENDOCINO Co., 7/16/20 — The body of an unknown person was discovered Wednesday in the burned out shell of an home in Albion, after a fire on Monday night. Due to the heat from the blaze, investigators had not been able to examine the remnants of the home until Wednesday morning. However, on Monday one adult man was unaccounted for, and arson was suspected. A fire investigator with the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority traveled to the coast to help in the investigation and on Wednesday morning the severely burned remains of what appears to be an adult were found.
Due to the damage done to the corpse a positive identification could not immediately be made, and the Mendocino County’s Sheriff’s Office has asked the public for any information they might have.
Here is the press release from the MCSO:
DATE: “July 15, 2020”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Incident Number: 2020-17072
Crime/Incident: 451 PC [Arson Investigation]
Coroner’s Report
Location: 32900 Block of Albion Ridge Road, Albion CA
Date of Incident: 07/13/2020
Time: 9:47 PM
Victim(s): Unknown-Not Identified
Suspect(s): N/A
Written By: Lieutenant Shannon Barney
Synopsis: On 07/13/2020 around 9:47 PM Cal Fire Dispatch Center received a report of a fully involved structure fire in the 32900 Block on Albion Ridge Road, in Albion CA. Members of the Albion-Little River Fire Department responded to the scene but also requested mutual aid from Mendocino Fire, Fort Bragg Fire, and Cal Fire to assist with the blaze. The residence was fully consumed by the fire. Fire Officials contacted the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) on the morning of 07/14/2020, as it took most of the night to put out the flames and cool hot spots in the fire. MCSO was advised that one of the residents of the home could not be accounted for, an adult male, and there was a concern that arson might have been the cause of the fire. MCSO requested mutual aid from Ukiah Valley Fire, requesting assistance from a trained fire investigator.
On 7/14/2020 the fire was still too hot to examine fully so the scene was held until 07/15/2020. Around 8:00 AM a team of fire officials and MCSOInvestigators started the process of sorting through fire debris to determine if there might be a person who perished in the fire. Around 9:30 AM investigators located the remains of what appeared to be an adult in the fire debris. Due to the fire the decedent could not be identified nor could it readily be determined to be male or female. The remains were removed and will be scheduled for a complete autopsy by the Mendocino County Coroner’s Office. The Mendocino County Coroner uses two primary methods to identify decedents; dental comparison and or DNA comparison. The cause of the decedent’s death remains under investigation.
At this time the cause and origin of the fire remains under investigation.
Anyone with pertinent information, about this incident, is encouraged to call the MCSO tip line at (707)234-2100 or the WeTip line at (800) 782-7463.
Approved by: Lieutenant Shannon Barney
