Body Found in Shallow Grave at Sonoma State Was Male: Sheriff (Update)

SONOMA COUNTY, CA – UPDATE: THURSDAY, NOV. 3, 7:25 p.m.

The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office confirmed this evening that the body recovered from a shallow grave on the Sonoma State University campus in Rohnert Park was a deceased male.

The body was removed from the scene and transported to the morgue in Santa Rosa for a forensic examination, the agency said.

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UPDATE: THURSDAY, NOV. 3, 3:20 p.m.

Crime scene investigators from the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office are still unearthing human remains found Wednesday afternoon on the Sonoma State University campus in Rohnert Park, a sheriff's sergeant said this afternoon.

A pathologist from the county's coroner's office, an investigator with the district attorney's office and violent crimes detectives are expected to take a few hours to unearth the remains, Sgt. Spencer Crum said.

"There's no time restraint," Crum said.

The remains are "in the form of a body and are not just bones," Crum said.

They were still covered in dirt as of about 1:45 p.m., he said.

A landscaper found the remains while removing brush about 200 yards from a parking lot on the campus, Crum said.

The landscaper first notified Sonoma State University police and the Rohnert Park Department of
Public Safety. The sheriff's office then took over the investigation.

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UPDATE: THURSDAY, NOV. 3, 1:50 p.m.

The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office confirmed this afternoon that the suspected body located in a shallow grave at Sonoma State University is a deceased human.

"We are still working to identify the sex, age and further description," the agency said.

No additional details were released as of 1:45 p.m.

Photographer Al Francis this morning said the blocked-off, marsh-like area under investigation is about 400 yards west of the Green Music Center on campus.

Students and faculty were parking at the other side of parking lot M to attend classes. Campus police and Sonoma County Sheriff's units were processing the scene.

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Original story, THURSDAY, NOV. 3, 11:21 a.m.

Human remains have been found in a shallow grave at Sonoma State University near Rohnert Park, according to Sonoma County Sheriff's deputies.

The grisly discovery was announced on social media around 8:45 p.m. Wednesday night.

Detectives have been dispatched to the scene, but further details weren't immediately available.

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--Bay City News contributed to this report/Photos via Al Francis of NapaSonomaPhotos.