Malibu: Dead body found in a barrel floating at a beach | US News

A man’s body was found stuffed inside a barrel that was floating at a beach in Malibu.

The barrel was first seen by a park maintenance worker at the Malibu Lagoon State Beach near the Pacific Coast Highway bridge on Sunday night. The worker attempted to drag the barrel to the shore but was unable to due to its weight, and left it there.

On Monday around 10am, a lifeguard saw the 55-gallon drum and swam over to get it – and made the grisly discovery.

‘It didn’t look decomposed or like it had been there for a long time,’ Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Lt Hugo Raynaga told KTLA. 

The barrel may have been dropped off in the ocean and washed to shore into the lagoon by high tide, according to officials.

The victim was a black male without clothes, CBS News reported. He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

A coroner worked to identify the body, said the sheriff’s department.

It was not immediately known how long the body was in the barrel and how long it was in the water. A cause of death has not yet been disclosed.

The incident is being investigated as a homicide.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the sheriff’s department.

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