SAN CLEMENTE : Coroner Has Few Clues to Identify Body

Medical examiners have only slim hopes of identifying a body found this week near the railroad tracks outside of San Onofre State Beach at the city’s southern border, authorities said.

All that was left of the man, now listed as John Doe, are skeletal remains and scraps of clothing, said a spokeswoman for the San Diego County coroner’s office. But because the remains included his skull and some teeth, there is a possibility of identifying the body, the spokeswoman said.

The body was found at 10 a.m. Wednesday by workers of the California Conservation Corps, who were clearing brush along the railroad tracks that cross through the state park.

The medical examiner said the body had been in the brush “easily several months. . . . We may never determine who it is.”