‘Human Remains Found In Landers’

LANDERS –The San Bernardino County Coroner is working to identify human remains found in the hi-desert.

A San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Homicide Unit, along with search teams and cadaver dogs, spent hours Thursday looking for more human remains in Landers.

An investigation is now underway after a human skull was discovered Wednesday on a nearby property.

Geraldo Cabrera says his dog “Scoobie” found the skull over two weeks ago while out playing. But it took awhile before anyone realized it.

Geraldo’s wife, Ariceli, says her kids told her something in the yard smelled very bad. But she didn’t do anything, because she’d had surgery and couldn’t walk or leave the house.

Meanwhile, Geraldo, a truck driver, was out on the road.

When Ariceli was finally able to go outside, she didn’t know what the skull was when she first saw it.

“I called my cousin and her husband. They came over and he said ‘that’s a person’ and then we called police.”

The family says investigators told them the remains appear to be from a child eight to 14 years old.

Some neighbors say they’re not surprised by the find.

“I think people kill somebody, then drag them out here to the desert. Nobody pays attention to them,” said Marlin Shaffer, a Landers resident.

Investigators say they have not had time to determine how fresh the remains are or if foul play was involved.