Body found partially buried near Sonoma State University parking lot

Human remains were found Wednesday afternoon in a shallow grave near Sonoma State University’s parking lot “M,” according to campus police.

The grave was first discovered in the early afternoon Wednesday by a campus employee, who then reported the find to SSU Police and Safety Services, according to a memo to students from David Dougherty, the university’s acting chief of police.

The partially exposed body appears to have been buried fairly recently though it is hard to tell, according to Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Spencer Crum. He added there was some hair on the person’s head and there does not seem to be much decomposition.

It’s unclear whether it is the body of a male or a female, Crum said.

Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office investigators combed the scene until dark Wednesday and were back at the scene Thursday morning.

Dougherty asked that the public stay away from the area where the grave was found. The site is a few hundred yards west of the parking lot edge, deep in the brush. A CSI trailer from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office was parked nearby Wednesday night, and yellow crime-scene tape cordoned off the locale, which is across from the Green Music Center.

Caitlin Burns, 20, a music education major and a junior at SSU who lives off campus, heard about the discovery when a friend who received an email from campus authorities texted her. She and her friend, Caitlyn Windsor, 20, also a music ed major and a junior, drove to the scene to check it out.

“I was shocked and surprised, and scared,” said Burns. “Stuff doesn’t really happen like this in a small town. You don’t really expect it.”

“I hope it isn’t a student,” Burns said.

Anyone with information that might help the investigation is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at 707-565-2121 or SSU police at 707-664-4444.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @renofish.