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CNN Live Saturday
Police Found Suspect's Remains in Burned Out Rubble of His House
Aired September 01, 2001 - 16:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: We begin in Southern California, where authorities announced less than an hour ago that they have found the remains that they believe are those of a man suspected of killing a sheriff's deputy. The body was found in the rubble of the suspect's burned out house, after an intense standoff there yesterday.
CNN's Hena Cuevas joins us now from Santa Clarita, California, with more on this new information -- Hena.
HENA CUEVAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donna, the sheriff's department announced that they found charred human remains, and the coroner is on its way to identify those remains.
We have with us Lieutenant Carl Deeley from the L.A. County sheriff's department. Tell us where did you find those remains?
LT. CARL DEELEY, L.A. COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Actually, we found two different sets of remains. At about 11:15, we found the remains of the suspect's dog in the service area just leading from the garage, and then human remains were found toward the rear of the house, by the back inside wall. We believe the remains are suspect James Beck, but it won't be confirmed until the coroner's office is going to be able to do a positive identification.
CUEVAS: Do you know how long that identification will take?
DEELEY: No. No. And it will probably -- we won't know today, we probably won't know for a few days, they will probably have to compare dental records. The body is not in that great a shape. Underneath the body they found an assault rifle and close by they found another assault rifle and a bullet-proof vest.
CUEVAS: Also we heard from some of the neighbors that he had a dog. Did you also find the dog inside the house?
DEELEY: The dog was found about an hour earlier in the service area, kind of a laundry room, leading from the garage into the house.
CUEVAS: Thank you very much. That was Lieutenant Carl Deeley with the L.A. County sheriff's department.
The search has been taken place since yesterday. And this morning, they have used bulldozers. They have been sifting through what little remains in the house, and some of the things they have found are some firearm parts, some rifles, some ammunition, some semiautomatic weapons, some handguns and a police I.D. badge.
The whole standoff began Friday morning when ATF officials and sheriff's deputies served Beck a search warrant as part of an ongoing investigation into illegal firearms possession. Gun fire erupted, and that's when 40-year-old sheriff's Deputy Jake Kuredjian was fatally wounded.
At the nearby sheriff station, there is a makeshift memorial where people have been bringing flowers and teddy bears and notes, expressing their condolences to the deputy's family. Also, a group of children in the neighborhood -- we are about 30 miles north of Los Angeles -- are also taking donations for the deputy's family.
The sheriff's department says they will continue looking through the house, because they are also looking for clues into what started the fire. At this point, it's still unclear whether it was started by Beck from the inside, or triggered by the tear gas that was used here in the standoff -- Donna.
KELLEY: Hena Cuevas in Santa Clarita, thanks very much.
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