Human Remains Located off Hwy 1 Identified as Belonging to Missing Man
Multiple agencies were involved with the search and recovery operation of Lewis Compton’s remains on Sunday, March 8. [Photo by Matt LaFever–Inset of Lewis Compton provided by his family]
![Assemblymen Jim Wood, a forensic odontologist, helped MCSO identify the remains as Lewis Compton [Photo from Jim Wood's website]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/unnamed-1-300x214.png)
Assemblymen Jim Wood, a forensic odontologist, helped MCSO identify the remains as Lewis Compton [Photo from Jim Wood’s website]
Van Patten recounted how two weeks after Compton went missing in November 2018, Helen, his wife, filed a missing person report “and it has been an active case ever since”. With the identification of the human remains, he said, “Compton is no longer a missing person”.
Lewis Compton went missing November 13, 2018. He drove his Jeep Cherokee into a fence along Highway 1 and fled the scene when law enforcement attempted to arrest him. He sped north, a California Highway Patrolman pursued, and when Lewis lost sight of his pursuer, he abandoned his Jeep, escaped into the woods, and had not been seen or heard from since.
A high school friend of Compton’s named David Fernandez read Cold Case Mendocino’s article entitled “Lewis Compton Fled Police, Abandoned His Vehicle and Disappeared into the Lost Coast” and was inspired to search for Compton this last Saturday, March 7th. Down a steep embankment from where the missing man had parked his vehicle, Fernandez said he located “a skull, shoulder bones, and human leg bones”.
David Fernandez [Photo taken about two hours before he located Lewis Compton’s remains]
Lewis Compton as a younger man holding a toad, one of his former wife Helen’s favorite pictures of her late husband. [Photo provided by Helen Compton]
When we were speaking to him about the case, Captain Van Patten noted, “Public awareness can lead to results and closure for families. MCSO is very appreciative and thankful there are individuals like yourself that are spearheading these sorts of public awareness campaigns.”
We want to thank all of our readers who take the time to share these stories and help get the information out, especially David Fernandez. He went beyond sharing and took action that will eventually bring a missing man back to his family.
Earlier Chapters:
- Cold Case Mendocino: Lewis Compton Fled Police, Abandoned His Vehicle, and Disappeared into the Lost Coast
- Man Searching for Missing Schoolmate Who Was Featured on This Website Stumbled on Human Remains Yesterday
- Identifying the Bones: Mendocino Sheriff’s Office Reports on the Next Step for the Human Remains Located Saturday off Hwy 1
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Law enforcement failed this family.
And why is the Mendocino County Search and Rescue comprised of “searchers” that can only navigate open flat terrain because they are too old???
Seriously, that boggles the mind.
Law enforcement is not perfect there Yeah,sure. Show some respect for our officers! Your comment is the one that boggles your mind. Call the Sheriff’s Department and tell them if you go missing, don’t bother to look. There are more young officer’s than the “too old” you describe. Now go get lost!
Try making sense if you are going to come after me. Better luck next time…
Respect is earned, Martin.
Like, when people do their jobs.
Id say the guy failed himself. Hes the one that ran from law enforcement. Have no idea how he died. Whether it was from injuries sustained in the crash, the elements or of his own doing. But i dont see how this is law enforcement and search and rescues fault.
Blame the guy who’s dead… for not finding his own body.
Perfect…
Hey, i feel bad for all involved, especially his loved ones and family. Im just saying, he put himself in that situation. Why is it any better to push blame to the people that actually got off their ass and put their time into searching. They didnt tell the guy to run from the police. Personal responsibly and accountability, its something that has increasingly been lacking in todays society
Who “got off their ass and put their time into searching” ?!!
Wasn’t MCSO — they couldn’t spend 5 damn minutes !!!
Not a toad.
So sad. Condolences to his wife and children, and all who loved him.
Someone give this guy a job
Hmmm. Now why would you take a shirtless and unflattering photo of yourself a mere 2 hours before finding your dead friends body? It almost looks like someone else took the photo. A bit slow on reading the missing person article too, 18 months after the fact? A lot of weird shit goes down on that stretch of highway..
Hmmm. Perhaps a better question is, “Why would you rip on a man who did a kind and considerate thing out of the goodness of his heart?” An even better question than that might be, “What does your comment say about you?”
I agree. The guy looks guilty of something due to a pic you don’t like?
Who needs stinkin’ facts?
Another mendocino shit show
What was the cause of death?
Did you read the article?
“ MCSO is still waiting on the results from Chico State’s Human Identification lab that will provide information regarding the cause of death.”
And it’ll probably take a while since the Chico campus may get shut down for a few weeks like due to the Coronavirus.
Thanks to our Assemblyman Woods, the author of the cold case files, and Kym. I’m certain this man’s wife will get some closure from this. It’s sad that it took so long to get to closure, but it did. And for those of you who wonder why it is that search and rescue personnel are so old; maybe it has to do with who is volunteering to do this job. Time to recruit some young blood.
If they’re not going to search then maybe they should just call themselves Rescue.
Search and rescue is a young man’s (and woman’s) occupation. The physical fitness requirements are serious. In many areas young people do not participate in the large numbers that are needed. This isn’t their fault. They do not get recruited. No one invites them to join in and learn about what SAR means. Even so, this case, like many others, shows that all possibilities were not exhausted. With this case, the missing man seems to have died not too far from where he got out of his car. A thorough search should have been done; it wasn’t. If it had been done, perhaps this individual would be alive today. The MCSO should be called out on the carpet, as all law enforcement should be, when they don’t do their jobs. Normally I take the LEO’s side, but not in this case. MCSO was wrong to not conduct a thorough search of the area.
So much of our taxpayer’s money is spent on what politician’s want to spend it on. Perhaps it should be spent on what the taxpayer’s want (a sheriff is a politician). As an example, tracking dogs (like bloodhounds) and cadaver dogs, in addition to drug sniffing dogs. I was told only yesterday (by a Humboldt County official) that he has been hearing that the citizens of Eureka would be much happier with the roads repaired and the homeless problem dealt with, and not a multi-million dollar treehouse/boardwalk in Sequoia Park. Point is, we are already spending money (tax payer’s money) but we are not getting our money’s worth. The answer always seems to be another tax increase, and tax payer’s are getting tired of it.
Condolences to the widow of this man. Hope this gives you some closure.
Burnt Roach wins most logical with this comment!
It’s a sad thing but Buzzards and Ravens will lead you to them.
Pay attention to the birds
Did they find a gun?
They couldn’t even find a body and you expect them to find a gun? 🤣
I hear that! I was just curious because he was supposedly armed.
And this morning at the Herrick park and ride the Coroner was removing a body from a pick-up in the parking lot. Of course, the 12 Sheriff’s deputies wouldn’t say anything. A number of walkers strolled by and gawked. Not everyone was sad.
“a California Highway Patrolman pursued, and when Lewis lost sight of his pursuer, he abandoned his Jeep, escaped into the woods, and had not been seen or heard from since.”
CHP quickly catches up to the Jeep that had just been abandoned. Officer knows the driver had just fled down the embankment into the woods, and is probably hiding nearby, as no brush can be heard trampling, and there’s no way the suspect could have traveled beyond earshot through such thick vegetation in so little time. Officer draws his gun and indiscriminately fires several rounds down the embankment and surrounding woods, hoping to scare the suspect into revealing his location. Whether the officer knew it or not, he’d shot the suspect.
…OR…was the embankment so steep that the suspect literally died from falling? Did the suspect die from OD and/or heart attack at that extremely stressful moment? Very hard to believe he couldn’t have been found.
I love your very quick and informative news Kym but after reading the comment sections for years now I’m a firm believer that the comment section should not exist anymore. Yes, you get some good info from roughly 10% of the commenters but in my opinion all it’s doing at this point is creating a bigger hate and divide in the people which is at its greatest of all times if you ask me. I hope all of the Humboldt b.s. doesnt start boiling over into Mendo.