‘Mummified’ body found in Oakland building under renovation is identified as man missing since 2020

A man whose body was found “mummified” in an Oakland building under renovation had been reported missing in 2020, the Alameda County coroner’s office said.

The man, identified by the coroner’s office as Joseph Mejica, was found last month by contractors working at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center near downtown Oakland.

The coroner’s office said Mejica may have died in 2020 when he was 40, but the office had not yet determined a cause or manner of death.

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Mejica was reported missing to the Oakland Police Department in 2020.

Oakland police said last month that the skeletal remains were found behind a wall and may have fallen from a higher elevation.

Foul play did not appear to be involved in the person’s death, but the body appeared to have been in its location for “years,” police officials said.

“It is probably a missing person, someone that somebody has been looking for,” Alameda County Sheriff’s Lt. Ray Kelly said in March.