Los Angeles County Coroner

Crews will be able to clear accidents from Los Angeles-area freeways faster because of a new communications system designed to hasten cleanup efforts, county transit officials said Tuesday. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board approved $2.6 million to help Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol and the Los Angeles County coroner buy equipment to improve communication between the three agencies.

Bones believed to be human remains have been found in a rural area of the Antelope Valley, authorities said. The remains were found about 4 p.m. Tuesday in the 22800 block of East Avenue O-8, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. David Halm said. On Wednesday morning, sheriff's homicide detectives, an anthropologist and an investigator with the Los Angeles County coroner's office removed the remains, Sheriff's Lt. Frank Merriman said. The remains appear to be from a single body, he said.

The Los Angeles County coroner's office was trying to determine the cause of death and the identity of a man whose decomposed body was found in bushes outside a Sun Valley business, authorities said Tuesday. The man, whose age was estimated to be 25 to 35 years old, appeared to be a transient who sought refuge deep within a hedge, said Los Angeles Police Detective Mike Coffey. Gardeners found him Monday morning near the corner of San Fernando Road and Penrose Street.

Orlando Castaneda arrives in San Dimas to find the San Gabriel Valley suburb alight with the glow of a stunning Indian summer afternoon. It's three days before Halloween in 1995, and Castaneda intends to spend this Saturday taking his champion Spanish Andalusian show mount, Incendio, on the animal's first trail ride. He sets out from the rented stable for a wooded dirt-and-gravel gully adjacent to a secluded residential stretch of Covina Hills Road, a route he's never ridden before.

A shooting in South Los Angeles left two people dead and three wounded, authorities said Monday. A man and woman seated in a vehicle parked at 196 E. 48th St. near Wall Street were shot when a man in a green Dodge Caravan pulled alongside them and opened fire about 10:50 p.m. Sunday, said LAPD Officer Kate Lopez. The man was identified as 20-year-old Jonathan Vega-Plascencia and the woman as 21-year-old Brenda Aguilera, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office. Three women sitting on a nearby porch were also struck in the legs by gunfire.

Police said Monday that they are still unsure whether the gunman who died in a Mar Vista shootout last week killed himself or was killed by officers. Santa Monica resident Stephan Michael Ream, 47, was holed up in a stolen motor home when he shot and wounded Los Angeles Police Officer Darius Lee on Thursday. A gun battle ensued, and Ream was found dead in the vehicle about 10:30 a.m., almost three hours after the incident began.

A medical examiner with the Los Angeles County coroner's office has been named interim chief while a nationwide search is conducted to replace Ronald Kornblum, whose resignation becomes effective July 1, it was announced Thursday. Lawrence Cogan, a senior medical examiner for four years, has been with the coroner's office since 1977. He supervises deputy medical examiners and residents in forensic pathology.