Body Found Buried in Fertilizer Pile in Manhattan Beach Park

This article was written and reported by John Schreiber.
Editor's Note: This article was originally published on Thursday, July 11 at 6:35 p.m. and has been updated multiple times since.

A city groundskeeping crew Thursday discovered a body buried in a pile of manure fertilizer near Manhattan Beach's Polliwog Park, according to officials.

The body was found at around 3:30 p.m. wrapped in an unknown material next to the Begg baseball field, according to Lt. Dave Coleman with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

"[The body] is wrapped in various materials," Coleman said.

On Friday morning, coroner's investigators identified the body as a young Hispanic male but did not offer any further details. Lt. Larry Dietz of the Los Angeles County coroner's office said an autopsy would probably not be performed until Sunday at the earliest.

At the scene Thursday evening, Coleman said the body probably had been in the pile for longer than a few hours because it was starting to decompose.

"You can smell it," he said.

The odor of the decomposed body was easily recognizable from a dog park downwind of the body. Many dog walkers commented on the smell as they strolled through Polliwog Park.

Sheriff's detectives will continue to investigate how and why the body got there.

Coleman also said the pile of fertilizer was delivered to the parking lot of the baseball field and has been sitting next to it for "longer than a day."

"If anybody happened to see anything suspicious in the last day, two days, they can either call Manhattan Beach PD or Sheriff's Homicide with any tips," he said. "The park is open to people who come and go and if anybody has seen anything, we would appreciate any phone calls."

The LASD Homicide Bureau can be reached at 323-890-5500. People can also provide anonymous tips by calling Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477) or texting TIPLA plus the tip to CRIMES (274637). Tips can also be left at lacrimestoppers.org.