Canyon Road body named

Laguna Beach police have identified a body found Tuesday on city-owned property at 1900 Laguna Canyon Road as Richard Benny Gomez Jr., 30, of Huntington Beach.

Gomez is believed to have been left at the location and did not die there, Sgt. Jason Kravetz said Thursday.

The Orange County Coroner’s Office completed an autopsy yesterday afternoon with the results being inconclusive, Kravetz said. A cause of death will be pending the toxicological analysis, which might take six to eight weeks.

“There were no obvious indicators [of the cause of death],” he added.

The body was identified late Tuesday through fingerprint comparisons, Kravetz said.

City workers notified police at 5:40 a.m. Tuesday that a man was apparently sleeping behind a transformer box on the property. When officers approached the person, it was evident to the officers that he was dead.

“At this time, investigators are handling the incident as a potential homicide due to the suspicious nature in which the victim was found,” Kravetz said. He did not elaborate on the condition of the victim.

In addition to the police department investigators, the Laguna Beach Fire Department, Orange County Sheriff’s Crime Lab and Orange County Coroner all responded to assist with the investigation.

“No further information will be released at this time so that investigators can determine why the victim was in Laguna Beach, and put together the events leading up to his death,” Kravetz said.