Update: Preliminary ID on Body Found Near San Juan Capistrano: Erica Alonso's Family Visits Site

Update:

Orange County sheriff’s investigators today preliminarily identified a decomposed body found in the Cleveland National Forest as that of a 27-year-old Laguna Hills woman reported missing in mid- February.

Earlier:

Sheriff’s investigators today were investigating a decomposed body found near Ortega Highway in the Cleveland National Forest.

A group of biologists working for Caltrans discovered the body about 10 p.m. Monday in a remote area one mile east of the San Juan Capistrano Fire- Ranger station near Ortega and Hot Springs Road, according to Orange County sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Hallock.

Investigators waited until sunrise to begin investigating the death because it was too dark to do the work last night, Hallock said.

The body was found about a mile off the highway near a creek, Ortega said. The site is in unincorporated Orange County, with the closest city being San Juan Capistrano.

The father of Erica Alonso, a 27-year-old Laguna Hills woman who’s been missing since mid-February, went to the scene, though there’s no indication if the victim is his daughter or if it’s even a woman at this point, Hallock said.

Alonso’s brother told City News Service that detectives have been in touch with his family, but there is no confirmation on the body’s identity.

“We probably won’t know anything until early tomorrow,” Isaac Alonso Jr. said.

The Alonso family last week announced a $5,000 reward for information that helps find the missing woman. There have been tips resulting from that reward, her brother said.

“Either way if it’s her or not, it’s going to be a very sad day for a family out there,” he said. “If we’re the family that has to carry that burden, then so be it, but we’re hoping that it’s not. But it’s like I’ve been telling everybody: today is a very sad day.”

Erica Alonso was last seen leaving her boyfriend’s home in Irvine about 3:45 a.m. on Feb. 15. Authorities located her white 2014 Honda Civic EX near Cedarbrook and Redwood in the Glenwood Park neighborhood of Aliso Viejo.

--City News Service; Family Photo

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