Skull, torso found in hobo jungle

YUBA CITY (5/6/03) -- Police officers summoned by transient campers discovered a cluster of human skeletal remains along the Feather River, authorities said Tuesday.

Officers responded about 8 p.m. Monday to a citizen calling from a public callbox on the west bank levee, Yuba City Police Lieutenant Bill Ollar said.

Officers checked an area of thick undergrowth about 1/4 mile north of 10th Street Bridge where transients have created a "hobo jungle."

There the officers found what appeared to be the skull and torso bones of a human being, Ollar said.

Investigators have ruled out the remains being those of a man who jumped into the river and presumably drowned after being shot by a police officer Jan. 30, Ollar said.

The suspect, who had threatened the officer with a replica gun, was never identified and his body was never recovered. The officer was cleared of any wrongdoing in the shooting.

"He would have had to have swum a fair distance up river for it to be him," Ollar said.

The newly discovered remains appear to have been exposed for several months.

"There's not enough to do an autopsy. It will have to be identified by forensics," Ollar said.

Sacramento Bee