California Police Find Shallow Grave Off Freeway, No Body Found; Investigators Say Religious Ritual To Blame

Off the 105 freeway in Downey California, police have found a shallow grave. There is very little information regarding the shallow grave found off the freeway.

Police have opened up a homicide investigation, but did not give a description of the remains or speculate on the cause of death. The body in the shallow grave was found Sunday evening at 4:45pm on the westbound 105 west of Lakewood Boulevard, according to CBS News.

The remains were found in the shallow grave off the freeway near an embankment. No identification of the remains found in the shallow grave has been made. This was the second time police in California have found what appears to be a shallow grave since January.

On January 9, a hiker stumbled what he said appeared to be a shallow grave in the Angeles National Forest. The hiker found blood but no body at the site of the grave.

The shallow grave was found in a remote area of the forest off Big Tujunga Canyon Road. The authorities believe the shallow grave was dug sometime between January 8 and 9. They were able to come up with a time frame on the shallow grave because it looked as though it was dug following a rainstorm on January 8.

The January grave was 3 feet by 5 and 10 inches deep. There was a trail of blood but no body found in the forest. The investigators believed that some kind of religious ritual might have been behind the blood and shallow grave found on January 9.

Neighbors say that it would not surprise them to learn that a religious ritual was behind the strange shallow grave. They say the canyon becomes a different place at night.  Near the grave authorities found chicken bones and burnt cloth, which they believe support the religious ritual theory.