Human remains discovered in trunk of Tesla impounded at Hollywood tow yard

An investigation is underway after decomposing human remains were found in a bag inside the trunk of a Tesla parked in a Hollywood tow yard.  

Detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department responded to Hollywood Tow, located at 1015 N. Mansfield Ave., near N. La Brea Avenue, at around 12:20 p.m. after employees of the tow yard reported a foul odor coming from the vehicle, which was parked on the roof of one of the yard’s parking structures.  

LAPD said the car, which has Texas license plates, was towed from the Hollywood Hills after it was reported abandoned about five days ago.

“I’d say that’s pretty horrifying,” Anton Mikel told KTLA. “Nobody wants that. I mean, we live here, so that’s kind of gross.”

The Hollywood resident was at the tow yard Monday afternoon to retrieve his own vehicle when he noticed the police presence.

“It seemed like there was a lot of people gathering around asking questions, but I didn’t know until just now,” he added. “That’s crazy.”

Aerial footage of the scene captured by Sky5 showed a portion of the yard that had been cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape as investigators huddled around the front of the Tesla where the trunk is located. A police photographer could be seen gathering photographic evidence of the body inside the trunk.

A white canopy was set up toward the rear of the vehicle, presumably for when police pull the body out of the trunk.  

The L.A. County Medical Examiner’s Office also responded to the scene, though authorities said that because of decomposition, the gender of the person is unknown.

“It’s not really a surprise,” John Rosenstein, another Hollywood resident told KTLA. “We live in a very big city, one of the biggest on earth and there are shady people doing shady things.”

Though detectives are not saying much, the likely focus of the investigation is using the license plate to identify the vehicle’s owner, as well as attempting to identify the deceased.