Laytonville, 12/24/22 — Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office detectives working with search and rescue personnel found a dismembered human leg bone Wednesday while looking into the disappearance of a 58-year-old man reported missing 10 days earlier. The remains have not yet been identified, pending DNA analysis, but MCSO personnel believe the two discoveries are related and may be connected to their missing person.
Around 4 p.m. Dec. 11, deputies were dispatched to the 46000 block of Fox Rock Road near Laytonville to speak with a woman who said that her boyfriend had walked into Laytonville several days prior and never returned. They looked for him in town without any luck.
The couple had been living together in a van, and Tuesday, Dec. 20, deputies were again dispatched to the area where it had been parked to investigate a piece of suspicious clothing found nearby. No significant evidence was located at that time — but they returned the following day with search and rescue and found that leg bone. One day after the leg bone was found, a property owner notified investigators that additional remains had been located.
The missing person investigation is still ongoing, and MCSO has not yet released the missing man’s name. Likewise, the circumstances surrounding the death of the person associated with those remains are still under investigation.
You can read the original press release below:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Incident Number:
2022-28116Crime/Incident:
Missing Person InvestigationLocation:
46000 block of Fox Rock Road in Laytonville, CADate of Incident:
12-11-2022Time:
4:09 PMVictim(s):
Adult Male (58-year-old male from Laytonville, CA)Suspect(s):
N/AWritten By:
Captain Gregory L. Van Patten #1184Synopsis:
On 12-11-2022 at approximately 4:09 PM a Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputy was dispatched to contact an adult female in distress on a piece of property located in the 46000 block of Fox Rock Road in Laytonville, California.Upon arrival the Deputy learned the adult female was residing in a van with her boyfriend (58-year-old male) and that her boyfriend left approximately 2-3 days prior to walk into the town of Laytonville but failed to return.
The Deputy made attempts to locate the boyfriend in Laytonville with negative results.
On 12-20-2022 at approximately 2:00 PM Deputies were dispatched to a piece of property which contained suspicious clothing on the ground in the vicinity of where the van had been parked at the time the boyfriend was last seen. A search of the general area yielded no evidence of significance in connection with this missing person investigation.
On 12-21-2022 Sheriff’s Detectives responded to the location with the assistance of personnel from the Mendocino County Search & Rescue Team to perform a further search of the area. During this search, human remains (a human leg bone) were located and recovered.
On 12-22-2022 Sheriff’s Detectives were in the planning stages of another search operation when they were notified a property owner had located more suspected human remains.
Sheriff’s Detectives responded to the property and recovered what were confirmed to be further human remains believed to be associated with the human bone located on 12-21-2022.
This missing person investigation is ongoing at this time and further search operation(s) are being planned for the near future.
The recovered human remains are yet to be positively identified due to the condition of the remains and will require DNA analysis for identification purposes. The cause and manner of death is under investigation at this time.
The reported missing person’s identity is not being released at this time due to the possible connection to the recovery of the unidentified remains.