A Kern County resident who was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Santa Barbara County and spent the night in jail was found dead on a hillside adjacent to the jail building Thursday, a week after he had been released.
David Mireles, 53, of Shafter had been arrested on Aug. 19 for DUI and was released the following day, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
“More than five hours after Mireles was released, the California Highway Patrol notified the Sheriff’s Office that Mireles had been reported missing from Shafter,” the statement read.
“Upon receiving that information, Sheriff’s deputies conducted an extensive search of the jail property and surrounding area, including nearby businesses and locations known to be frequented by individuals recently released from custody,” the sheriff’s office said.
Mireles was not found during that search, but his body was discovered a week later by a custodian working on the county property within a few hundred feet of the jail. The temperatures in Santa Barbara during the week Mireles was reported missing ranged from 79 to 81 degrees.
“To see the location where Mireles was found, a person would need to leave the walkway, enter the brush several feet and look down into the vegetation,” the statement read.
Investigators believe Mireles’ body had been at the location since approximately the time that he was released from jail. The sheriff’s office continues to investigate and a cause of death has not yet been determined, they said.
The incident nearly mirrors a case in Azusa five months ago when a man released from an Azusa police facility after an arrest for driving under the influence climbed into a police patrol car outside of the building and was found dead three days later. The cause of death for Eric Valencia, 37, was determined to be extreme heat, according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner.