The partially burned body of a man was found early Thursday morning, Nov. 19, when firefighters put out a small vegetation fire along the Santa Ana riverbed trail, police said.
It was just before 3:30 a.m. when the Orange County Fire Authority was called to put out the blaze in some brush, Santa Ana police said.
“There was a guy on a bike that saw the fire and called about it,” said Cpl. Anthony Bertagna.
When firefighters extinguished the flames, in the 3000 block of West First Street, they found the dead man against a wall near the grassy area on the west side of the riverbed north of First Street.
“Based on the evidence found there they think it’s a homicide,” Bertagna said, adding that he couldn’t discuss what that evidence was.
Detectives were trying to find witnesses, Bertagna said.
