Hollywood body parts identified, name kept secret

January 20, 2012 - 21:30 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Coroner's officials identified the man whose dismembered head, hands and feet were found in a Hollywood park, but they're not releasing his name as police continue to hunt for his killer, authorities said Friday, Jan 20.

According to The Associated Press, the identity, age and hometown of the victim was withheld because his next of kin had not been notified and because police investigators had placed a "security hold" on the information, Los Angeles County coroner's spokesman Ed Winter said.

The head was found Tuesday by a dog walker at Bronson Canyon, and police searchers turned up the man's hands and feet during a two-day search that ended Thursday. The park reopened Friday.

Police concluded that no other body parts had been dumped in the wilderness park a few miles from the Hollywood sign but visitors who find anything should contact police, police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said.

Dozens of police searched 7 acres of brush in the park for two days after Tuesday's discovery of a man's head in a plastic grocery bag. Two hands and feet believed to be from the same victim were found on Wednesday and Thursday before authorities concluded the ground search.

The man is believed to have been killed elsewhere, police have said. Coroner's officials are trying to identify the man through fingerprints, dental records and DNA databases, police said.

No arrests had been made, but detectives were plowing through dozens of leads, Smith said.

Smith declined to comment on media reports that search warrants were served Thursday night at a Hollywood apartment building and that a car there was towed away.

However, the commander said there were several other investigations under way in the area, including narcotics investigations.

The dead man was between 40 and 60 years old. He is believed to be an American Armenian. His head, found by a dog that was let off leash by a dog walker, had been there a few days at most. Longer, and coyotes would have destroyed them, police said.