Authorities today confirmed they have recovered what they believe are human bones from a popular stretch of the Long Beach shoreline.
The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner is investigating in an attempt to identify where the bones came from and how they got to the beach.
The investigation began shortly after 9:30 a.m. on Friday when someone called 911 to report “what they believed to be human remains located in the sand” near the parking lot at Junipero Beach, said Long Beach Police Department spokesperson Richard Mejia.
Soon, homicide detectives and crews from the Medical Examiner’s Department could be seen scouring a small section of sand taped off near lifeguard tower 3. At one point, homicide detectives examined an open cardboard box in the middle of the red tape.
Personnel from the Medical Examiner’s Department recovered “what appear to be human bones” on Friday, said Kelly Vail, a spokesperson for the department. The team returned to the same area on Saturday and recovered “additional remains,” Vail said.
No further details were immediately available, including a potential identity for the remains, as the Medical Examiner’s Department was “in the early stages of its investigation,” Vail said.
This is not the first time police have been called to what appeared to be human remains on the beach. Last August, police responded twice to the sand near Orizaba Avenue after someone reported finding what looked like a skull. The discovery turned out to be a fake human skull.
The Junipero Beach parking lot is a busy section of the shoreline just below Bixby Park and the Long Beach Museum of Art. Last summer, it drew complaints from neighbors because of illegal activity and even violence, including a shooting last year.
Last month, an outdoor roller rink and sports court opened adjacent to the parking lot.