Imperial Valley press., 1932-01-18
MYSTERY
ENCULFS
TRAGEDY
Nude Body OF Slain Man
Found On Desert Near
Dixieland
FEW CLUES FOUND
Fail In Attempt To Link
Dead Man With Slayer
OF L. A. Officer

Three pea-i buttons torn from
what probably was silk shirt or
pajamas, and four links and the
crassbar OF a gold watch chain, to-
day furnished county officers thel;
only clues to the identity of man
whose body, stripped of all clothes
and pierced through the heart by
a bullet, was found on the desert
a quarter of a mile south OF the
San Diego highway near Dixieland
yesterday afternoon.
Evidently murdered with a pre-
cisely aimed shot through the
heart, the body apparently had
been carried onto the desert after
the Staying, for 1t was washed clean
of all blood Taken in connection
with the appearance of the body,
and the evidence of an autopsy per-
formed today, this was seen as an
indication the man was killed sew
eral hours before his body was left
on the desert. =.
Undersheriff Rodney Clarke,
Coroner Bert Underwood and Ike
Holmes, deputy sheriff, were the
first investigators to reach the
scene after the body was found by
Norman L. De Hay of Ell. Centre,
who was picnicking on the desert
with his family.
The body at first was Thoughts to
be that of Joseph Regan, theatre
bandit and slayer of Hugh Crowley,
Los Angeles detective lieutenant,
killed in the robbery of Los An
geles theatre last week, but de-
scriptions of the Los Angeles
gangster and the man found near
Dixieland did not tally.
Credence was given the theory
the man was Regan when it was
found his knees and Shins were
skinned. Regan's accomplice, under
arrest in Los Angeles, told officers
there Regan stumbled after being
shot by Crawley.
Sheriff George L. Campbell be-
lieved he had seen the man before
as dealer in the Owl in Mexicali,
but could not make a positive
Identification.
Tom Sharp and Harold Gillett,
investigators for the district at
torney and sheriff, respectively,
took up the investigation this
morning. Fingerprints were to be
made in an effort to identify the
BODY, while whatever slim clues
might be furnished by the buttons
and fragment OF a watch chain
were being followed.
1t was Sharp who found the but
tons where they had been torn from
the mans shirt or pajamas. Au-
tomobile tracks showed where
car had left the old oiled road
leading south from the San Diego
highway, driven short way into
the desert, and turned.
Pausing, the occupants of the
car had dragged the body out,
ripping off the clothing and re-
moving all marks OF Identification.
They overlooked the buttons and
piece of the chain, however. That
the clothing was not removed be-
fore the body was taken from the
car was clearly indicated by the
buttons. to which fragments OF
white and red thread clung.
Showing that movements OF the
slayers were calculated, the body
had been undreSsed and
washed after the shooting, and
then dressed again. The clothes
again were stripped from the corpse
after it was taken into the desert.
The man was clean shaven, and
his soft hands indicated he was
not used to manual labor. Sharp
and Gillett were watching with in
terest today as fingerprintS were
taken, for a casual survey seemed
to show the fingers had been
treated with acid CT some chemical
to tear down the ridges used in
Identification.
Sharp today was planning 70
broadcast to newspapers and law
enforcement agencies a complete
description OF the man, together
with pictures taken in Lemons
mortuary this morning.
The man is described as between
IS and 40 years old, five feet. 10
inches tall, and weighing about 1856
pounds. He had blue eyes. candy
red hair, freckles, and was partially
bald. with heavy hair on the back
OF his head. He had sandy conf
pleXion. :arge nose. heavy jowls.
and was smooth shaven.