Human head, hand found in Hollywood hills

[tater1977]

January 18, 2012 9:34 AM

Human head, hand found in Hollywood hills

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-573 ... ood-hills/

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles investigators found a human hand Wednesday in the Hollywood wilderness park where a severed head in a plastic bag was discovered by dog walkers, and the search continued for other body parts.


The hand was discovered in Bronson Canyon as dozens of police officers, including homicide investigators, combed the brush along a winding trail a few miles below the Hollywood sign.


A coroner's cadaver dog found the hand about 50 yards (45 meters) from where the head was discovered on Tuesday afternoon, the Los Angeles Times reported.


"Two of the dogs began to play with the bag and what appeared to be an object. While the dogs were playing with it, at some point the object came out of the bag and they discovered that it was a head — a severed head," Sgt. Mitzi Fierro told CBS station KCAL-TV. The bag was visible from the trail, she said.


The remains are believed to come from the same man. Wild animals in the park may have taken some other body parts, police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said.


The head of a man in his 40s, 50s or 60s was found about a half-mile inside the gated canyon road, which is part of the vast Griffith Park.


"One of the dogs ran into the brush and came out carrying a plastic grocery bag. As the dogs shook the plastic grocery bag the severed human head fell out of the bag and onto the ground." Smith told KCBS-TV.


A dog walker is seen in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles Jan. 17, 2012, after police responded to a report that a human head was discovered nearby.
(Credit: KCAL-TV)

The man may have been killed elsewhere in recent days and his body dumped in the park, Smith said.


The man wasn't immediately identified. Police were checking reports of missing persons and coroner's investigators will check dental records.


Smith noted that the canyon is well-traveled by both cars and hikers. A paved road winds around picnic areas and a children's playground before connecting with a trail that eventually winds up near the Hollywood sign.

[Maui Tom]

They are currently looking for some body.

[Michigan Girl]

They are currently looking for some body.

lol!!


I'm amazed at the age span ...could be anybody!!

[tater1977]

The Lady Who Found a Severed Head in Hollywood Hills Posed for a Smiling Trophy Photo: How Much Is It Worth?

http://gawker.com/5877578/

On Tuesday afternoon, on a hiking trail in Hollywood Hills, a pair of female dogwalkers stumbled across the severed head of a middle-aged man. Two of their dogs had been playing with a plastic bag, they told the LAPD, and when they looked inside they found the head.

Then one woman posed for pictures of the head. In at least one photo, she is smiling.

A prominent Hollywood photo agency is now trying to sell those pictures. They don't have a buyer, yet. The asking price is $5000.

The discovery of the head launched a massive search for the rest of the body or clues about its origins, the Los Angeles Times reported. For two days, LAPD helicopters circled Bronson Canyon Park, hilly home to the city's iconic HOLLYWOOD sign. Crime scene investigators combed the brush; police on horseback fanned out across the terrain. Professional "cadaver dogs" took over the task two amateur dogs had started, snuffling through the brush for human remains.

They found a hand first.

Then another hand.

Then two feet.

According to the Times, the new body parts were not in bags. The LAPD opened a homicide case and theorized that the man had been killed elsewhere, then cut into pieces and dumped in the park. In conversations with the press, police authorities speculated that wild animals could have devoured or moved other remains.

After the discovery of the victim's feet, I received an email from a representative from a Hollywood photo agency that usually sells paparazzi shots of starlets climbing out of limos. On this day they were peddling pictures of the severed head. Eight of the pictures, to be exact, "including a pic of the lady whose dog found the head (and she's smiling)," the agency said. For a $5000 fee, Gawker could have a 24-hour web exclusive on the photos. After a day had passed, the agency would be allowed to sell them to other news outlets. "There's been a lot of interest," the representative noted.

According to the agency, the images originated on the cellphone of "a guy on the trail who had a phone—the lady didn't have a phone so she asked him to borrow his."

I asked the photo agency how they got into business with this morbid citizen journalist—had he reached out to them?—but the agency refused to give details unless we were willing to pay for those, too.

We offered $42. They declined.

And so, with the LAPD still hunting for the deceased man's torso and killer, we decided to join the hunt for a news outlet willing to pay for the grisly photo.

"[W]ouldn't run it. Don't want it," said David Perel, executive vice president of RadarOnline.

New York Post features editor Stephen Lynch bluntly said in an email that their paper would pay "nothing" for it. "Try Brian Williams," his message said.

"Let me ask. Good quality?" said New York Daily News gossip columnist Frank DiGiacomo. They were cellphone pictures from the scene of discovery, I told him. He directed me to NYDN's photo editor, who has yet to respond.

"We don't buy/use stuff like that," said William Bastone, editor of The Smoking Gun, an outlet that published Michael Jackson's autopsy photos. "I'd be more interested in doing something on the ghoul who tried to get Harvey Levin to (once again) open TMZ's bulging wallet."

TMZ didn't respond to our request for comment. Neither did editors at the National Enquirer, The Daily Mail, the New York Post, or The New York Daily News.

One person, however, was willing to name a price.

"For exclusive images? $3k or more," said Fred Mwangaguhunga, founder and editor of Media Takeout.

We reached out to the LAPD for more information about the case and cellphone photos, but they have not returned our call. We wonder if the LAPD plans to offer a cash reward for clues about the case. By our estimation, $5,001 should do it.

[steveo777]

Damn it! I warned Nicolas Cage about taking bail out money from the mafia.

[Michigan Girl]

Is he 40, 50 or 60?!?

Sad for the Fam!!

[brywool]

Sounds like "Dexter"

[Rip Rokken]

Sounds like "Dexter"

Best show ever, except for "The Shield" in its day.