Identity of man found shot to death in ravine near Camp Bartlett being investigated

February 02, 2001
Santa Paula News

While possible family members in Mexico are being notified and a confirmed identification of the body found just off the 14000 block of Santa Paula/Ojai Road on Camp Bartlett property, the homicide remains a mystery

By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesWhile possible family members in Mexico are being notified and a confirmed identification of the body found just off the 14000 block of Santa Paula/Ojai Road on Camp Bartlett property, the homicide remains a mystery.The badly decomposed body was found Monday, Jan. 29, at about 2 p.m. by man who had pulled over on the east side of the road to smoke a cigarette. He spotted the body, wrapped in a blanket from the neck down, about 15 feet down the side of a ravine. The body, so badly decomposed that its gender couldn’t be confirmed until an autopsy was performed Tuesday, was lying on one side of a narrow creek, not far from Camp Bartlett homes located on the other side.The autopsy revealed that the man had been shot once in an undisclosed part of his body, said Deputy Medical Examiner Mike Feiler.
Ventura County Sheriff’s Department investigators found some paperwork on the body that provided a tentative identification of the victim, a Hispanic male in his mid- to late-40s, but confirming his identity could take weeks. If the identification found on the body is indeed correct, the man had not been reported missing.The two lane road where the body is found is a busy one: Santa Paula/Ojai Road is also known as Highway 150 which connects Santa Paula to Ojai. There are numerous turnouts along the highway, which at night is pitch black, providing cover for someone who would dump something off the side of the road.Sheriff crime-scene investigators were lowered by ropes to the scene on Tuesday to exam the area - dominated by thick brush and trees - where the body was found, but since it is believed it was just used to discard the body, evidence from the scene was expected to be scarce.After the body was removed it was moved to a nearby ranch where a Sheriff’s Department helicopter picked it up for transport to the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s office.



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