Human remains found in Mendocino County, tests being done to see if they belong to missing man

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office is investigating whether human remains found in Laytonville belong to a missing man, authorities announced Thursday.

The 58-year-old man, who lived in a van with his girlfriend in Laytonville, was reported missing on Dec. 11 after he left to walk into town and didn’t return after two to three days. Sheriff’s deputies searched for the man and came up empty, according to a news release by the Sheriff’s Office.

The county’s Search and Rescue Team was brought in on Wednesday and searched the vicinity of where the van had been parked in the 46000 block of Fox Rock Road in Laytonville. It recovered a human leg bone.

Later the property owner discovered more human remains believed to be associated with the leg bone, according to sheriff’s Capt. Gregory Van Patten. No specifics about them were released.

Further search operations are planned in the near future, he said.

The remains will require DNA analysis to determine whose they might be because of their condition, Van Patten said. The cause and manner of death is under investigation.

The missing person’s identity is not being released because of the possible connection to the recovery of the unidentified remains, he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Kathleen Coates at 707-521-5209 or kathleen.coates@pressdemocrat.com.