Investigators said body parts discovered at two East Oakland sites came from the same person.
OAKLAND, Calif. — Oakland police said this week that human remains found at two East Oakland locations more than two weeks apart belonged to the same person, deepening a homicide investigation that has so far left basic questions about the victim unanswered.
Police first responded on Feb. 1 to the 9700 block of San Leandro Street, near the Oakland-San Leandro border, where officers found a body in an advanced state of decomposition and dismemberment. Then, at about 1 a.m. on Feb. 16, officers were sent to the 1700 block of 37th Avenue in the Fruitvale area, where they found additional human limbs. On March 5, the department said both discoveries involved the same person, but investigators had not publicly identified the victim, announced an arrest or released a cause of death.
The case began on a Sunday morning in an industrial stretch of East Oakland near San Leandro Street and 98th Avenue, where elevated BART tracks run overhead. Officers were called there around 10 a.m. and found what police described as a decomposing, dismembered body. At that stage, the department said homicide investigators were working to determine how the person died and whether the remains belonged to a man or a woman. The early public description was limited, but the condition of the body signaled from the outset that detectives were dealing with a complex and disturbing case rather than a routine death investigation.
More than two weeks later, the inquiry widened. Officers were dispatched shortly after 1 a.m. on Feb. 16 to the 1700 block of 37th Avenue, where they found human limbs that were also in a state of decomposition. The second site was several miles from the first, adding a new layer of difficulty for investigators trying to map the victim’s final movements and determine when the remains were left at each location. Police later said the two scenes were tied to the same individual, but officials did not say which parts were found where, how long the remains may have been there, or whether surveillance video or witness accounts had helped connect the discoveries.
The public information released so far has remained narrow. Police have not named the victim, disclosed the person’s age or gender, or said whether forensic testing has established how the person died. An autopsy was expected to help answer some of those questions, but investigators had not shared results. Authorities also had not said whether the killing happened in Oakland or whether the remains were moved there after the death. Those missing details matter because they will shape the direction of the case, including whether detectives focus on people connected to the victim, vehicles seen near the dump sites, or activity captured by businesses and traffic cameras in the surrounding corridors.
The geography of the case has drawn attention because the two locations sit in separate parts of East Oakland with different street patterns and traffic flows. The San Leandro Street site lies near the city border and a busy industrial corridor, while the 37th Avenue location is in the broader Fruitvale area, closer to residential blocks and neighborhood streets. That spread may complicate witness canvasses and timeline work. Detectives in such cases typically move carefully through forensic review, autopsy findings, scene reconstruction and video collection before deciding whether to release more about a victim or suspect. For now, police have said only that the Homicide Section is leading the investigation.
Even with few official details, the case has unsettled residents because of the time gap between the discoveries and the condition of the remains. The first report suggested a violent death. The second confirmed that the inquiry would stretch across multiple scenes. Police have asked for information, including possible photos or videos related to the case, a sign that detectives may still be building the victim’s movements and trying to identify who had contact with the person before death. Until the victim is named and the autopsy is complete, many of the most basic questions in the case remain open.
As of Thursday, the investigation remained active, with no arrest announced and no public identification of the victim. The next major milestone is expected to be the release of autopsy findings or additional details from Oakland police about the person’s identity and how the death occurred.
Author note: Last updated March 9, 2026.