Police Investigate Suspicious Death After Body Wrapped in Plastic Found in U-Haul Truck
Police are investigating a suspicious death after a body wrapped in plastic and cardboard was found in a rental truck at a U-Haul storage facility.
Fullerton Police responded to the U-Haul Moving & Storage Facility on Orangethorpe Avenue in Fullerton, California, at around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, The Orange County Register reported.
Staff alerted authorities after coming across the human remains inside the cargo hold of the truck, according to the newspaper.
The Los Angeles Times reported that a group of workers had been cleaning out the truck when they came across a body that was wrapped in plastic and cardboard with only the crown of the person's head visible.
The Anaheim Police Department took over the case after it was determined the truck had been rented and abandoned in Anaheim.
The truck was found to be unoccupied in Anaheim after the rental period lapsed and was taken to the U-Haul facility in Fullerton by another company, the Register reported.
"Anaheim homicide detectives have responded to a U-Haul location in the City of Fullerton to investigate a deceased person found in a truck," the department wrote on Twitter. "The investigation is being handled as a suspicious death and it has not been determined to be a homicide."
The body was taken to the Orange County coroner's office for examination on Wednesday evening, the Times reported. No other details about the person were released.
Meanwhile, the truck was taken to another "controlled facility" where officers will try to find evidence that could help the investigation.
Sergeant Shane Carringer, of Anaheim Police, told the Times that police have "nothing to indicate it is a homicide" but are handling the case as if it could be a homicide and will conduct a "thorough, methodical" search.
Carringer said even if the case is not a homicide, a crime may still have occurred.
"Even if we don't have a homicide, we still may have potential crimes here we're investigating," Carringer told KABC. "Ultimately somebody's family is going to want answers as to why their loved one was found here in this condition."
The Anaheim Police Department and U-Haul have been contacted for comment.
Anyone with information about the case is urged to call Anaheim Police at 714-765-1900.
