Body of man found on beach
does not appear to be transient

By Ashley Wright and Jesse Dungan

January 15, 2008

A body of a nude man found buried facedown in the sand at San Francisco's Ocean Beach this morning was located when a group of young people saw his white socks sticking out of the sand, a U.S. Park Police spokesman said.

At about 5 a.m. a group of young people located the body, which was completely nude except for the socks, park spokesman Rich Weideman said.

The group had allegedly built an illegal fire at the beach and was told by police to move to an area of the beach designated for fire activity.

The group located the white male, who appeared to be in his 40s, in the designated fire area near Fulton Street, Weideman said. The body is described as about 190 pounds, medium build, with no identifying marks. The man does not appear to have been a transient.

Weideman said that the incident is being treated as suspicious because the body was located above the high tide line at the beach.

San Francisco medical examiner officials had removed the body as of about 9 a.m., Weideman said. An autopsy to determine the cause of death will take a few days.

Officials found no apparent trauma, such as gunshot or knife wounds, on the body, Weideman said. Natural causes or a drug overdose will be explored as possible causes of death, he said, but nothing can be finalized without an autopsy.

Investigators are checking the beach and surrounding area for clothing items and other evidence, and will search missing persons records and run fingerprints to attempt to identify the man, according to Weideman. Two members of the group that found the body were questioned by police but are not being treated as suspects, according to Weideman.

Weideman said police ran a warrant check on another man found in the area and detained him on charges unrelated to the body.

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