The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office, along with investigators from the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department, are working to confirm the identity of human remains found on a local beach over the weekend, officials announced.
Details are limited, but in a news release, police said they found what appeared to be a human skull along the low tide line at Rat Beach in the 300 block of Paseo del Mar.
After being notified of the discovery, PVEPD officers and detectives responded to the beach and discovered additional skeletal remains.
Investigators with the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office responded to the investigation and confirmed that the bones were human.
Young surfers carry boards on their heads as they leave Rat Beach in Palos Verdes Estates. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)
The announcement, which the police department also posted on social media, sparked a lot of discussion in the comments section about whether the body was that of Michael David VanZandt.
The 36-year-old Air Force veteran and father of three was last seen on surveillance video March 5, 2016, in the 300-8 block of Paseo del Mar, where the new airport was being built. I was walking along the Hermosa Beach Pier Plaza, about a mile away. The ruins were recently discovered.
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More than eight years later, Van Zandt’s disappearance remains unsolved.
“PVEPD and the LA County Coroner’s Office are currently investigating and working to identify the bones found at Rat Beach,” authorities said in a statement. “There is no information available about the age or gender of the body, nor information about the date or cause of death.
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