Police Identify Body of Slain Man
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SAN CLEMENTE — Police have identified a bullet-riddled body found Aug. 8 near a construction site as that of a 19-year-old Santa Ana man.
Gustavo Hernandez’s burned and partially decomposed body was found in the area of Diamante and Calle Fino Clarete by two people searching for a lost animal. He had been shot several times in the chest, police said.
Hernandez’s 19-year-old girlfriend, whose identity was not released by police, last saw him Aug. 4 and reported him missing to Santa Ana police on Sept. 5, according to Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Dan Martini.
After newspapers published a police composite drawing of the victim the girlfriend contacted the Sheriff’s Department to say it resembled Hernandez.
Hernandez was then identified through a thumbprint from his California identification papers supplied by his family, police said.
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