California man, 32, identified as body found inside barrel at Malibu beach

A body found this week inside a barrel on a Southern California beach has been identified, authorities said Tuesday. 

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office identified the remains as 32-year-old Javonnta Murphy, who lived in the Los Angeles area.

A 55-gallon drum was discovered floating in a lagoon at Malibu Lagoon State Beach on Sunday by a maintenance park worker. The worker was unable to bring it ashore because it was too heavy, investigators said. 

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“Apparently it was too heavy and they didn’t want to open it, so they left it on shore,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Hugo Reynaga said at a news conference, FOX Los Angeles reported.

On Monday, a lifeguard spotted the barrel around 10 a.m., and was able to bring the barrel to shore. Authorities have not said how long the body was inside the barrel or Murphy’s cause of death. 

“From what I did see it didn’t look to me like it was decomposed or had been there a long time,” Reynaga said.