LAPD Investigate Decomposed Body Found in Recycling Center

The Los Angeles Police Department is working to piece together how a badly decomposed body came to be among the refuse at the L.A. Recycling Center in Downtown. The remains were found by workmen following an afternoon drop-off.

“We’ve begun our investigation as if it were a homicide, but it is too soon to determine how this person died," says Lt. Paul Vernon, commanding officer of the Central Detective Division, noting that such a discovery is "quite rare."

The LAPD will be looking at truck schedules to determine when the load carrying the body was delivered as they attempt to "find any reference to the body’s origin."

An autopsy has been scheduled to help identify the remains and the cause of death. The body is so badly decomposed, however, that at this time the detectives cannot ascertain the person's gender, age, or race, despite initial reports the body was that of a female.