LAKE FOREST – The body of 19-year-old pre-med college student Blaze Bernstein was found Tuesday in brush near a Foothill Ranch park where he went missing more than a week ago, and records show that a high-school classmate who reportedly was the last known person to see him alive appeared nervous when interviewed by detectives.

Carrie Braun, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, would not elaborate Wednesday on the condition of Bernstein’s body or the cause of death, but acknowledged a homicide investigation had been launched by deputies.

UPDATED: Crime lab expedites blood evidence in the Blaze Bernstein death

Mourners embrace as they join more than 300 people in Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch, Lake Forest on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018 for a candlelight vigil for Blaze Bernstein. A make-shift memorial of photos, candles and flowers was set up on a picnic table near the spot where Bernstein’s body was found. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A photo of Blaze Bernstein when he was six years old was placed on a make-shift memorial by a friend of the family. Over 300 people gathered in Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch Lake Forest on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018 for a candlelight vigil for Blaze whose body was found in the park. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Over 300 people gathered in Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch Lake Forest on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018 for a candlelight vigil for Blaze Bernstein whose body was found in the park. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Friends, family and other mourners gathered in Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch, Lake Forest on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018 to hold a candlelight vigil for Blaze Bernstein. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Over 300 people gathered in Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch, Lake Forest on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018 to hold a candlelight vigil for Blaze Bernstein. A make-shift memorial of photos, candles and flowers was set up on a picnic table near the spot where Bernstein’s body was found. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Over 300 people gathered in Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch, Lake Forest on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018 to hold a candlelight vigil for Blaze Bernstein. A make-shift memorial of photos, candles and flowers was set up on a picnic table near the spot where Bernstein’s body was found. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Mourners embrace as they join more than 300 people in Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch, Lake Forest on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018 for a candlelight vigil for Blaze Bernstein. A make-shift memorial of photos, candles and flowers was set up on a picnic table near the spot where Bernstein’s body was found. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Over 300 people gathered in Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch, Lake Forest on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018 to hold a candlelight vigil for Blaze Bernstein. A make-shift memorial of photos, candles and flowers was set up on a picnic table near the spot where Bernstein’s body was found. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Mourners comfort each other as they join more than 300 people in Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch, Lake Forest on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018 for a candlelight vigil for Blaze Bernstein. A make-shift memorial of photos, candles and flowers was set up on a picnic table near the spot where Bernstein’s body was found. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Over 300 people gathered in Borrego Park in Foothill Ranch, Lake Forest on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018 to hold a candlelight vigil for Blaze Bernstein. A make-shift memorial of photos, candles and flowers was set up on a picnic table near the spot where Bernstein’s body was found. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)



“They’re still following up on multiple leads,” Braun said during a Wednesday press conference, adding that no arrests had been made.

Although Borrego Park was searched extensively by investigators and volunteers for days, even from the skies by volunteer drone pilots, Tuesday’s rainstorm enabled Bernstein’s body to be more readily seen by investigators, Braun said. Sheriff’s officials would not say if the body had been buried.

An autopsy was to be performed Wednesday.

During the hastily called press conference Wednesday afternoon at the Lake Forest sheriff’s station, Bernstein’s parents mourned his death.

“We have just learned that the O.C. Sheriff’s Department and coroner’s office has confirmed our family’s worst fears and have positively identified our son Blaze’s body,” Gideon Bernstein told reporters as his wife, Jeanne, stood at his side. “Our family is devastated by the news. We – like so many of you around the world – love Blaze and wanted nothing more than his safe return.”

At the press conference, sheriff’s Lt. Brad Valentine gave few details about the investigation and would not discuss if detectives had identified a suspect. Valentine did say that he believes that Blaze was likely killed the night he disappeared.

A 16-page search warrant affidavit filed by a sheriff’s investigator shed some light on Bernstein’s disappearance and the friend who reportedly drove him that night to Borrego Park.

According to the affidavit:

The friend, who attended Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana with Bernstein, told detectives that he spoke with him on SnapChat that night. He agreed to pick up Bernstein and they drove to the parking lot of a Hobby Lobby in Lake Forest to “hang out” and “catch up.”

He said Bernstein then told him they were going to meet up with another friend from high school, and they arrived at the Borrego Park parking area shortly before midnight on Jan. 2, a Tuesday. He said Blaze exited the vehicle and walked by himself into the park.

The friend said he waited for about an hour and tried to contact him on SnapChat. He said he then left at around 1 a.m. and drove to his girlfriend’s house in Tustin and then returned to the park at about 3:40 a.m. after Bernstein still had not responded. During one interview, the affidavit says, he said he did not know her last name.

The friend said Bernstein complained about his grades in school and “seemed depressed but never said anything about wanting to hurt himself.”

On Jan, 4, two days after the teenager disappeared, detectives spoke with the friend again at Borrego Park and noticed that his hands had several small scratches and abrasions. The friend said the scratches and abrasions were from a “fight club” that he was involved in.

Investigators also noticed what appeared to be “dirt under the fingernails” on both of the friend’s hands. They asked him how his hands got so dirty and the friend said he “fell into a dirt puddle” during the sparring session.

Detectives noticed that the friend was nervous and was “breathing heavy, talking fast and visibly shaking.”

At one point, the friend opened the doors to his rental car and allowed two detectives to look inside. The detectives noticed hiking and camping equipment in the rear of the vehicle, a large empty plastic bin on the backseat, and a black belt on the passenger seat floorboard.

The friend agreed to be further interviewed at the sheriff’s headquarters in Santa Ana, where his story “stayed fairly consistent.” But, the affidavit says, while he had told investigators that he went to his girlfriend’s home after he left Bernstein in the park, he said he could not remember her last name and did not know where she lived.

“On their way out of Sheriff’s Headquarters, (investigators) noticed every door (the friend) had to touch on the way out of the building he pulled his jacket over his hand to prevent his hand and fingers from touching any part of the doors he touched.”

Braun, the sheriff’s spokeswoman, declined to comment on the affidavit.

News reports and a large social-media effort helped turn the mystery of his disappearance into a national story. Fans asked celebrities for help.

Laker legend Kobe Bryant and Hollywood actors Jeremy Piven and Mayim Bialik had posted on Facebook and Twitter to help in the hunt for the missing young man. Also posting were retired basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and “The Real Housewives of Orange County” cast members Vicki Gunvalson and Tamra Judge.

Bernstein had been on winter break from the University of Pennsylvania and visiting family. The family lives within a 10-minute walk of the park; he was the oldest of three siblings.

Wednesday night, more than 300 people attended a candlelight vigil for Bernstein at Borrego Park near the spot where his body was found.

A makeshift memorial with photos, candles and flowers was set up on a picnic table near where the body of Bernstein was found. Members of the Bernstein family invited anyone who knew Bernstein to come up and share their memories of him.

Those who spoke included next door neighbors of the Bernsteins, students who knew Bernstein and strangers who came to support the family. The 6 p.m. vigil lasted about an a hour and concluded with people giving their condolences to the family.

Photographer Leonard Ortiz contributed to this story.