Mummified body found inside wall of California convention center

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) - A mummified body, appearing to be a male, was found by a construction crew doing renovation work at the Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland, California, on Wednesday.

“I was shocked. The mummified remains startled me,” Dorothy Lazard, former head librarian of the Oakland History Center, said.

The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office says mummied remains means that the body was preserved within the wall where it was found.

Investigators are working at identifying the body with DNA and dental records, and say there is hope that the hands of that body were preserved enough so they can be hydrated and fingerprints can be taken.

“Whoever that is, I hope their spirit is in a good place,” Cynthia Obleton, an instructor at Laney College, said.

It is unclear which wall the body was found in, but the convention center was built as the Oakland Municipal Auditorium and has a long history of popular events.

Lazard actually graduated high school in that building.

“James Brown performed there. The Grateful Dead performed there over 50 times. Elvis performed there. There were political lectures,” she said.

The convention center was being renovated for use as a multi-purpose space to be used by artists and others in office settings.

Now, there are questions on whose body was found there, how it got there, when it got there and what exactly went wrong.

“It’s definitely alarming. I hope they can identify at least who was in that wall, who that person was and hopefully, notify their family, but that’s pretty scary stuff,” Oakland resident Nnamdi Ihenetu said.