CORONER SEEKING HELP IN MAN'S ID.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Los Angeles County Coroner's investigators are asking for the public's help in identifying a man whose body was found in a field more than three months ago.

Officials said Monday they have followed every possible avenue to identify the body found Sept. 26 in a ditch outside the Friendly Village mobile home park but have come up empty-handed.

``Because the body was so badly decomposed and dehydrated, it's nearly impossible to determine his identity,'' said Coroner's spokesman Scott Carrier. ``We'd like to identify this gentleman so the family can finally have some closure.''

A crew working for the Los Angeles County Department of Agriculture's weed abatement program unearthed the body, which lay beneath a storm drain emptying out of a wall at the rear of the mobile home park.

The crew ran a bulldozer several times over the depression beneath the drain to try to pull up some stubborn reeds. On the fourth pass, the man's body popped up.

Coroner's investigators say the man was a white male, at least 30 years old, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, with fine, short brown hair. He was only wearing a pair of multicolored shorts and was wrapped in what appeared to be a piece of green curtain material.

Officials do not believe that there was any foul play involved in his death, but still could not speculate on the exact cause. The man appeared to have been dead for at least several days, and could have been dead for several weeks.

The body became Los Angeles County Coroner's 187th unidentified person for 2000.

Anyone with information in this case or who may be able to identify the man are asked to call the County Coroner's Notification Office at [phone].