Man Charged for Fatally Beating Man, Dumping Body in Grave off 105 Freeway

A murder charge was filed today against a transient accused of using a pipe to fatally beat a man whose body was found in a shallow grave along the westbound Glenn Anderson (105) Freeway in Downey.

Bryan Allen Petty, 22, was scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon in Downey Superior Court in connection with the April 1 death of the man, who has yet to be positively identified.

Downey police were notified by the California Highway Patrol about 4:45 p.m. Sunday that the victim's body had been discovered in a shallow grave. The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office exhumed the body from the grave in an embankment west of Lakewood Boulevard.

Petty is a transient who lived near the area, according to

Police said they subsequently "received information that led to the identification and subsequent arrest of the suspect," a transient who lived near the area where the body was found.

Petty, who was taken into custody Tuesday, was jailed on $1 million bail.