Man’s Body Found Near Anacapa Hospital

The victim may have been just a few feet from help.

A motorist driving by Anacapa Hospital in Port Hueneme early Saturday called police to report a person lying on the lawn near a small parking lot. Port Hueneme police rushed to the scene at 1 a.m. They found a dead man on the east side of the building at 307 E. Clara Drive.

“He looks like he had been dead for a while,” Port Hueneme Detective Sgt. Jerry Beck said. “Someone probably dumped him out on the grass there. A lot of people still believe that’s a hospital, so they may have put him there.”

Anacapa Hospital is a drug rehabilitation center.

Authorities took the body, described as a Latino man in his early to mid-50s, to the Ventura County coroner’s office. Police found no identification on the body. According to Senior Deputy Coroner Craig Stevens, there was no evidence of foul play.

“No apparent trauma or injury found at the autopsy,” said Stevens. “Evidence found that it may be a drug overdose.”

The coroner’s office has obtained the man’s identification through a computer using his fingerprints. They were waiting to notify his next of kin before releasing his name.