Burning dead body discovered in debris pile has been identified, California police say

What San Francisco police officers originally thought was a debris fire turned out to also be a dead body.

On Sunday, officers were patrolling Russ and Minna streets around 4 a.m. and discovered that a person was on fire, the department told McClatchy News. They alerted the San Francisco Fire Department for help and tried to put out the fire. The person was determined to be dead at the scene.

“Officers on patrol saw a fire, thought it was a debris fire,” San Francisco police Sgt. Anthony Pedroza told KPIX. “They came up and saw it was a person. It was an obvious death to them. They called the paramedics. …There are no witnesses yet.”

The victim was identified Monday as 28-year-old Eric Moren, according to the station.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and SFPD Major Crimes Division are investigating the incident “as a suspicious death,” the department told McClatchy News.

Late Sunday morning, the scene was already cleaned up, store owner Tamara Freedman told the San Francisco Chronicle.

“For how gruesome it sounded, you’d think there would be some reference to the crime, some fire damage, but there isn’t,” said Freedman, who owns a store on Russ Street.

Anyone with more information is asked to call the SFPD Tip Line at 415-575-4445.

This story was originally published October 26, 2020 at 12:21 PM with the headline "Burning dead body discovered in debris pile has been identified, California police say."