BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — On December 9th, 2024 BPD and KCSO responded to a body found during a maintenance cleanup at Mill Creek. On Wednesday June 18th, the body was identified as Bernie Nieto a Bakersfield resident.
- Neito was 61, and went missing early 2024.
- More information is still being determined, at the moment they are not able to determine how the victim was killed.
- DNA analysis helped identified the body due to it being fully decomposed.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Back in December, a body was found in Mill Creek in Downtown Bakersfield. The body was fully decomposed which made it difficult to identify, but thanks to DNA analysis the body was identified.
On December 9th, 2024 KCSO and BPD both responded to Mill creek after reports of a skeleton that was found in the creek. Per Eric Celedon from BPD he said "We recovered the body but due to the level of decomposition were unable to determine gender, age or race.”
Earlier Wednesday we received information from the Kern County Sheriff's Office giving us the name, age, and gender of the victim. Bernie Nieto is a Bakersfield resident who was 61, at the time. He originally went missing early 2024.
A postmortem examination was conducted and the cause and manner of death were unable to be determined.
This is still an ongoing case, and we will keep you updated with the new information. For 23ABC, I'm Eric J. Dockery your Bakersfield neighborhood reporter
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