Charred Body Found at Burned Building

A bulldozer driver uncovered a badly charred body Tuesday in the rubble of a Canoga Park building material company destroyed by fire, Los Angeles police said.

The body was found at 8:30 a.m. in the ruins of Canoga Builders Supplies, in the 7100 block of Deering Avenue near Sherman Way, Officer Helen Lim said.

Because of the body’s condition, its identity, age and sex had not been determined, said Scott Carrier, spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. Coroner’s investigators were joined by police homicide detectives and arson investigators, Carrier said.

The 15,000-square-foot building, loaded with lumber, was gutted in a June 3 fire. Many day laborers, who gathered to seek work nearby, were accustomed to sleeping on the site, and investigators suspect the deceased was one of them, Lim said.