Mario Danelo

The body of USC kicker Mario Danelo was found Saturday at the bottom of a cliff in San Pedro, according to Los Angeles Police Department officials. Danelo, 21, was found west of the Point Fermin lighthouse on Saturday afternoon. LAPD detectives were still investigating late Saturday night. "I have no indication per se that it was a criminal event," said Lt. David Pierson, commanding officer of the LAPD Harbor Division detectives.

Early Sunday morning, in the darkness after mourners and television crews had left, Sam Anno walked out to the cliffs at Point Fermin Park in San Pedro. The USC assistant football coach wanted to see the spot where his kicker, Mario Danelo, died over the weekend. Anno had spent the evening about a mile away at Danelo's family home, commiserating with a father "sad as hell," he said, and a mother who "couldn't cry any more tears."

For as long as San Pedrans can remember, the stark beauty of the Point Fermin cliffs has drawn photographers, model plane enthusiasts and wedding planners. But old-timers know that the steep, rock-strewn bluffs -- featured in a scene in the movie "Chinatown" -- have a haunting history as well. In the last two decades, a number of people have fallen to their deaths there in tragic accidents and suicides, their bodies discovered far below on jagged rocks at the ocean's edge.

An autopsy was performed Monday on the body of USC kicker Mario Danelo, but the cause of death was deferred pending toxicology results that could take six to eight weeks to process, according to a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner's department. Danelo, who was 21, was found at the bottom of a cliff at Point Fermin Park in San Pedro on Saturday afternoon. Capt.

A huge billboard at one end of San Pedro said Mario Danelo would not be forgotten. Streets in part of the city were blocked off to handle traffic, and a crowd of about 2,000 mourners spilled out of Mary Star of the Sea Catholic church on Friday to remember USC's 21-year-old kicker, who died last week. "Mario was [San] Pedro, and I think everybody recognizes that," USC Coach Pete Carroll said after the Mass, which lasted about two hours. "We're so saddened by this, but also ...

USC kicker Mario Danelo had a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit when his body was found at the bottom of a San Pedro cliff last month, but the manner of his death remains undetermined, according to a Los Angeles County coroner's report released Monday. The body of Danelo, 21, was found about 150 feet below Point Fermin Park on Jan. 6. Deputy medical examiner Jeffrey P. Gutstadt wrote in the autopsy report that Danelo died of multiple traumatic injuries.

Joe Danelo surveyed the scene as USC players ran from one drill to the next during practice on Sunday, the flurry of activity stirring fond, cathartic memories for the father of late Trojans kicker Mario Danelo. "This is just where Mario used to be," Joe said. "Part of his memory is out here. It's good to be out here with the kids." Mario Danelo, who would have been a senior in the fall, died in January, his body discovered at the bottom of a cliff not far from his family's home in San Pedro.

A ceremony honoring the late Mario Danelo will be held tonight before USC's season opener against Idaho. Danelo, a record-setting kicker for the Trojans in 2005 and 2006, would have been a senior this season. He died last January from a fall from a cliff near his home in San Pedro. "I'm sure the tribute will be great," said Michael McDonald, the holder for field goals and extra points who was among Danelo's closest friends on the team.

USC paid tribute to the late Mario Danelo in a pregame ceremony and also after the Trojans' first touchdown in their 38-10 victory over Idaho on Saturday night at the Coliseum. Danelo, a record-setting kicker for the Trojans in 2005 and 2006, would have been a senior this season. He died in January from a fall from a cliff near his home in San Pedro.

In his two-year USC career, Mario Danelo was probably on the field for less than two hours. The Trojans were about touchdowns, Danelo was the squiggly frosting on the edges of those touchdowns. The Trojans grandly kicked opponents between the teeth, then Danelo quietly kicked a football between the uprights. He was just a kicker, right? Who misses a kicker? Sitting in the Coliseum stands a couple of weeks ago, watching other parents' children play football, Joe and Emily Danelo learned.