Firefighters responding to reports of a trash fire near San Diego's Old Town neighborhood made a grisly discovery on Monday morning that prompted a homicide investigation.
Emergency dispatchers were first contacted around 11:15 a.m. by a witness calling to report a fire along a bike path near where the Pacific Coast Highway and Interstate 8 cross paths.
When firefighters arrived on the bike trail below, they found a deceased, burned body, according to SDPD.
A witness reported seeing two men trying to put out the flames, then leaving the area prior to the arrival of firefighters, police said.
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The identity of the dead person and details on how the blaze might have started were not immediately available. Police shut down a stretch of the street in the area to allow for investigation.
While San Diego police and San Diego Fire-Rescue first responded to the incident, because the fire was determined to be on California state property, California Highway Patrol investigators are handling the homicide investigation.
No other details are yet availble. NBC 7 will update this story when more information is released.
