An early morning grim search under a freight train Friday finally found the bloody body of an unidentified man who was killed on the tracks.
But police were trying to solve the mystery of why the man was on railroad property shortly after midnight and if the death was accidental, a suicide or even the result of foul play.
The victim was struck and killed by a BNSF freight train in Placentia on the border of Fullerton.
The death was reported at 12:43 a.m. in the area of Placentia and Fender avenues, said Placentia police Sgt. Adam Gloe.
Responding officers searched the railroad tracks for about 15 minutes before they found the man’s body under the train, Gloe said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
It wasn’t immediately known why the man was on the railroad’s property, Gloe said. The pedestrian’s name was not immediately reported.
—City News Service