The child was young, likely between 2 and 4 years old. He’d been dead for months, maybe much longer, when hikers in Rancho Bernardo found his skeletal remains in a weathered canvas bag.
That was 22 years ago. No one knows his name.
The county Medical Examiner’s Office is reviving that case and those of four other youths who remain unidentified in death, releasing forensic sketches that may bring new clues forward. The cases date back decades, starting with a ponytailed teen girl found in 1978.
The Medical Examiner’s Office works closely with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NamUs, Rady Children’s Hospital and a forensic artist in hopes of naming unidentified people, county officials said in a news release Thursday.
Among the missing is a youth, between 17 and 22 years old, found in Sweetwater Reservoir on Jan. 2, 1999. He’d been there a day, maybe two, before a reservoir employee spotted his body about 15 feet from shore and about 100 feet south of Circulo Margen, a residential street in Spring Valley.
Forensic sketch of young man (left) found dead in Sweetwater Reservoir on Jan. 2, 1999. On the right is an image of a tattoo on his left shoulder. (Courtesy of San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office)
His case — and, importantly, his face — were featured earlier this year at San Diego Comic-Con International, where attendees watched as forensic artist Joe Mullins sculpted a plaster reconstruction of the youth’s face. Mullins teaches with the Forensic Science Program at George Mason University in Virginia.
County officials say the youth — possibly Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native — in the reservoir had a tattoo on his left shoulder: a flag containing the word “WICCA” atop a large ankh. It also featured a V-shaped bird in flight and a pentagram. Officials say the tattoo suggests “an interest in mysticism or an earth-based religion.”
He was dark-haired, 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighed about 166 pounds. He was found dressed in a white polo shirt, black Levi’s jeans and boxer shorts. In his left ear hung a gold-colored hoop earring.
Forensic sketch of a child, between 2 and 4 years old, found dead in Rancho Bernardo on May 4, 2004. (Courtesy of San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office)
Last year at Comic-Con, Mullins live-sculpted the reconstructed face of the Rancho Bernardo toddler. In 2004, the Union-Tribune reported that two women hiking near Pomerado Road and West Bernardo Drive on May 4, 2004, found remains now known as Baby Doe.
The child was inside a green and tan canvas travel bag in a wooded area. He was dressed in a red sweatshirt and red warm‑up pants, with tan/gray socks featuring red trim. Nearby, officials said, was more clothing — child-sized and adult.
San Diego County Crime Stoppers and San Diego police homicide investigators have said in recent years that the child’s features were consistent with being mostly White, and he was believed to have had light to medium brown hair. He likely was born between 1999 and 2001.
Isotopic testing offered a further clue, indicating the child’s mother likely had lived in the Southeastern region of the United States while she was pregnant with the boy, and he may have spent the first year of his life there before coming to California.
Forensic sketch of a teenage boy, possibly 15 or 16 years old, found dead near the Tijuana River on March 16, 1995. (Courtesy of San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office)
In addition to those two cases, Thursday’s news release included images of three other unidentified youths.
On March 16, 1995, a Latino teen was found near the Tijuana River on March 16, 1995. Maybe 15 or 16 years old, he was wearing black Attrak brand jeans, a hooded sweatshirt and black Puma shoes with a red stripe. His hair was cropped on the sides, his left ear was pierced and he wore two crucifix necklaces.
Forensic sketch of a boy, possibly 12 to 16 years old, found dead on the Imperial Beach shoreline July 22, 1979. (Courtesy of San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office)
On July 22, 1979, a boy between 12 and 16 years old was found on the Imperial Beach shoreline. Due to decomposition, county officials said, little about him is known. He was about 5 feet tall, weighed 98 pounds, and had brown hair. He wore a pair of Lee jeans. He may have been White or Latino.
And on Valentine’s Day 1978, a jogger found the body of a teenage girl along Proctor Valley Road near the San Miguel Ranch area of Chula Vista. She had been dead about two days.
Authorities say the girl was 14 to 18, stood about 5 feet, 1 inch tall and weighed about 90 pounds.
Forensic sketch of a teenage girl, about 14 to 18 years old, found dead near Proctor Valley Road on Feb. 14, 1978. (Courtesy of San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office)
She was found barefoot, wearing a white halter top and denim overalls. Her shoulder‑length brown hair was in a ponytail, and she’d had extensive dental work. Her ears were pierced, and the right ear was slightly malformed and smaller than the left.
A month after her death, the San Diego Union newspaper reported that the lower half of her body was burned extensively. So were her hands, making fingerprint identification impossible. Her face was bruised, and her left eye was swollen shut. A front tooth was broken.
A 2014 Crime Stoppers request seeking help to solve the case indicated her cause of death: poisoning.