skylights
Barracks at the former Alameda Naval Air Station. The creation of natural lighting is simple with the help of a reciprocating saw.
Kite Aerial Photography
From Alameda Sun, October 15, 2009
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A scrap metal scavenger discovered a fully articulated skeleton, according to Alameda Police. Police say the man was searching an abandoned apartment building on Orion Street at West Tower Road at 5:55 p.m. on Monday when he discovered the body on the second floor.
"The man is a transient out of Berkeley, with ties to Alameda. The building is boarded up, and there's a cyclone fence around it, but this man is so skinny he was able to slip inside," said Lt. Bill Scott, APD Investigations Commander. "He went upstairs, was rummaging around, and found a skull on the floor. Initially, he thought it was fake. But looking around, he saw the rest of the bones. When he realized it was real, he put the skull down and backed out of there. He flagged down a passer-by with a cell phone."
Investigators arrived and verified that a body was indeed lying on the floor of the property formerly addressed as 104 Norfolk. The skeleton was fully clothed, though the garments were mostly rotted away. "Documents found in the area were collected, and they may shed some light on who he is," Scott said. Police won't say what the documents were, pending investigation from the coroner's office.
From the condition of the remains, Scott said the body has been inside the apartment for some time. The building, which has been boarded up and fenced off for years and has been used by the Alameda Fire Department for ventilation training ("They put holes in the roof," Scott said), impeded the investigation. With the floor exposed to the elements, it was nearly collapsing beneath the investigators' feet. Police could not determine what the man might have been doing there. "But we got most of [the evidence]," Scott said.
The body was turned over to the Alameda County Coroner's Bureau. An autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday after press time.
skylights
Barracks at the former Alameda Naval Air Station. The creation of natural lighting is simple with the help of a reciprocating saw.
Kite Aerial Photography
From Alameda Sun, October 15, 2009
--------------------------------------
A scrap metal scavenger discovered a fully articulated skeleton, according to Alameda Police. Police say the man was searching an abandoned apartment building on Orion Street at West Tower Road at 5:55 p.m. on Monday when he discovered the body on the second floor.
"The man is a transient out of Berkeley, with ties to Alameda. The building is boarded up, and there's a cyclone fence around it, but this man is so skinny he was able to slip inside," said Lt. Bill Scott, APD Investigations Commander. "He went upstairs, was rummaging around, and found a skull on the floor. Initially, he thought it was fake. But looking around, he saw the rest of the bones. When he realized it was real, he put the skull down and backed out of there. He flagged down a passer-by with a cell phone."
Investigators arrived and verified that a body was indeed lying on the floor of the property formerly addressed as 104 Norfolk. The skeleton was fully clothed, though the garments were mostly rotted away. "Documents found in the area were collected, and they may shed some light on who he is," Scott said. Police won't say what the documents were, pending investigation from the coroner's office.
From the condition of the remains, Scott said the body has been inside the apartment for some time. The building, which has been boarded up and fenced off for years and has been used by the Alameda Fire Department for ventilation training ("They put holes in the roof," Scott said), impeded the investigation. With the floor exposed to the elements, it was nearly collapsing beneath the investigators' feet. Police could not determine what the man might have been doing there. "But we got most of [the evidence]," Scott said.
The body was turned over to the Alameda County Coroner's Bureau. An autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday after press time.