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Human Remains Fished Out Of Mokelumne River Investigated As Homicide

ISLETON (CBS13) — Human remains were fished out of the Mokelumne River during a fishing trip, Sunday morning.

It happened in Isleton, along Brannan Island Road.

The human remains were found in a black plastic bag.

Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies are investigating it as a homicide.

"We were just there, it's kind of surreal," said Mar Caballero.

Caballero was fishing right by the dock where the human remains were found, just hours before they were recovered by another fisherman. He's fished along the Mekolumne River for more than a decade.

"That night we were fishing lures that were on the surface, typically we fish lures that are subsurface," Caballero said.

Caballero says he couldn't imagine being the one to recover the remains, but says he also wouldn't be surprised.

"We have hooked clothing, bags, bicycles and tires out in the water in the Delta," he added.

The bag containing the remains was found along this dock, across from the Lighthouse Bar and Grill, Sunday morning.

"We don't have any information about the victim including sex, race or anything," said Sacramento County Sheriff Sgt. Shaun Hampton.

Deputies aren't commenting on the condition of the body, but the bar owner tells CBS13, he saw dismembered parts inside the bag.

"We are looking to the community to see if anybody may have seen something or heard something in the area recently, that they might think is related," Hampton said.

Detectives are now looking into missing person cases around the Sacramento region and the surrounding area, hoping to get one step closer to identify the man or woman, who mysteriously surfaced in the popular fishing territory.

"It's sort of like the wild wild west; it's uncharted territory," said Caballero.

The Sacramento County Coroner is now trying to identify the body. Sheriff's investigators are looking into how the remains ended up in the Mokelumne River, and how the victim was killed.

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