Full Notification

On 12/9/2013, at 7:08 PM, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office received a report that possible skeletal remains had been located in 100 feet of water at Lake Sonoma. The remains had been discovered by a recreational diver. The diver reported finding the remains that day at approximately 2 PM.

On 12/10/2013 and again on 12/12/2013, a dive team from the Marin County Sheriff’s Department Dive Team made several attempts to retrieve the remains. The depth of the dive and severely poor visibility made the retrieval extremely difficult. However, the dive team was able to confirm the presence of skeletal remains and did in fact retrieve several large bones. The remains were located in an area underneath the bridge at Lake Sonoma.

Because of the complexity of the dive, the Sheriff’s Office requested the assistance of the FBI Technical Dive Team. On 2/4/2013 and again on 2/5/2013, the FBI dive team was able to retrieve the majority of the skeletal remains. At this time the remains are unidentified and the case is being investigated by the Sonoma County Coroner’s Office.

Anyone with possible information regarding these remains is asked to contact the Coroner’s Office at 707-565-5070

Prepared by Lt. Carlos Basurto
Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Bureau
707-565-2185