‘Mummified’ body found in wall of California convention center that hasn’t been used since 2005
‘The conditions in the walls were such that the body was preserved in good conditions,’ says the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office
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Your support makes all the difference.A construction crew renovating an out-of-use building in California found a “mummified” body inside, police say.
The workers were demolishing a wall on Wednesday at the Henry J Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland when one of them discovered the corpse.
“We found remains best described as mummified,” Lt Ray Kelly of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office told NBC News. “The conditions in the walls were such that the body was preserved in good conditions.”
The body has not yet been identified. Police are working to determine who the person was and how he or she got inside the wall.
“Any theory is possible,” Mr Kelly said. “It could be anything from someone who got in behind the wall and became trapped and died to someone put the person there. God only knows.”
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According to the Oakland Police Department, the body was found in a tiny space between two concrete pillars behind some drywall, near the building’s concert hall.
“The cavity where the individual was found was approximately 15 inches in width and 12 inches in height,” Lt Frederick Shavies told KNTV.
So far, no evidence of violence has been found.
“There were no obvious signs of trauma observed,” Mr Shavies said. “There were no cracks or fractures in any of the bones.”
The Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau is currently examining the corpse. Authorities hope to identify it through fingerprinting, DNA evidence, and dental records.
Mr Shavies believes the person probably died many years ago. The Henry J Kaiser Convention Center opened in 1914, but has been closed since 2005. The current renovation work began in 2015.
“I think this was a tragic case where someone lost their life,” Mr Shavies said. “Some family lost a loved one.”
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