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Homeless man killed when underground dwelling collapses

Search teams found a man buried beneath 10 to 15 feet of dirt after a week-long search in Palm Desert, California.

A homeless woman went into a fire station on Feb. 12 and reported her 30-year-old friend missing. The woman told firefighters her friend had built an underground dwelling under a sand dune in the desert. When she tried to find her friend, she found the underground dwelling had caved in.

Firefighters rushed to the sand dune and removed several hundreds of pounds of dirt but could not find a body. The search was stopped after four hours.

Riverside County deputies continued searching for the missing person in the area but could not find him. On Feb. 18 heavy earth-moving equipment was brought in to dig in the sand dune once again. A search dog trained in locating dead bodies signaled a body was in the area.

Search teams dug through nearly 15 feet of dirt and found the man had died. The coroner?s office has not yet identified the body.

Read the Southwest Riverside News Network report here.

Full post as published by the 13th juror on February 20, 2011 (boomark / email).