Coroner’s officials seek help identifying woman found dead in riverbed near Whittier Narrows Dam

Facial reconstruction

Coroner’s officials asked the public’s help Wednesday in identifying a woman whose partially skeletonized remained were discovered in the San Gabriel riverbed in April.
The remains of the woman, listed at the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner as Jane Doe No. 27, were discovered by county workers about 8:40 a.m. April 2 in the riverbed about 150 yards north of the Whittier Narrows Dam, and 100 yards west of Pico Rivera Bicentennial Park in an unincorporated county area near South El Monte, coroner’s officials said in a written statement.
Due to the condition of the body, which sheriff’s investigators said may have been there for several months, an autopsy was unable to determine how the woman died, coroner’s Lt. Larry Dietz said. The officials cause of death was listed at the coroner’s office as “undetermined.”
In an effort to learn the identity of the woman, and possibly shed light on what happened to her, investigators Wednesday publicly released a sketch of what the woman was believed to have looked like. A sketch of a tattoo of a rising sun with two mushrooms in front of it on the woman’s right calf was also released.
TATTO sketchNo wallet or identifying papers were found with the body, officials said.
The dead woman was described as 21 to 40 years old. Her eye color could not be determined. She was wearing blue jeans, size 16 petite, and gray size 10 tennis shoes.
“A gray messenger bag containing two body sprays, along with a gray “Amtrak” hooded jacket were found near the decedent,” according to the coroner’s statement.
Anyone with information was asked to contact Investigator Daniel Machian of the Coroner’s Identifications Unit at 323-343-0754, or the Coroner’s Investigations Division at 3230343-0714.

Sketch of victim, tattoo courtesy of the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner.

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