OAKLAND — A human skull was found in West Oakland on Friday. The skeletal remains, only a decayed skull, were found in the backyard of a home on 29th Street near West Street Friday at 8:54 a.m., police said. The discovery is being investigated as suspicious death by the homicide unit. The skull was to be taken to the Alameda County Coroner’s Office for further analysis and has not yet been identified. No other details were available. Anyone with information is asked to call the Oakland Homicide Unit at 510-238-3821, or the tip line at 510-238-7950. Check back for updates.<doc-sep>Image 1 of 2 ▼ An investigation is underway after a decayed human skull was found in an Oakland backyard. Police say a resident in West Oakland hand delivered the skull to their downtown police headquarters early Friday morning. Homicide detective Sgt. Michael Cardoza said the Alameda County coroner's bureau was notified immediately. "The human skull was brought to our attention. We called the coroner had them come out to take a look and then we gathered up some troops and went out to the location where they found this thing," he said. Police responded to the home at the corner of 29th and West streets with force and used a battering ram to gain access through an iron gate. Visiting health care worker Pamela Deering was in shock. “It was the last thing I thought they were looking for of all the things you could imagine they might be looking for I would have never guessed this,” she said. The home had multiple tenants and police on scene detained those inside, even putting some in handcuffs before being released. Manul Adrow was eating when he was detained. "They come into my house while I'm eating dinner, they come in and tell me something about a head,” Adrow said. “I don't know nothing about no head.” Pamela Deering, who visits the home daily to work with and an elderly resident, says she was informed by police on scene that a headless body was found a week or two ago down the street. “Evidently since there's a headless body and now a head they figure someone must have decapitated the body,” she said. When pressed Sergeant Cardoza responded, "I can tell you that's still under investigation right now. We're still putting all the pieces together and still have a lot of work to do.” Residents had no idea the skull was in the backyard for a number of weeks. “They said it was just laying out in a part of the garden that we don't go in,” said Deering. The identity of the body is unknown at this time. Advertisement If anyone has information as far as the body that may go with the skull they should contact the Homicide Section at (510) 238-3821 or the TIP LINE at 238-7950.<doc-sep>Two people visiting a residence in Oakland found a decaying human head in the backyard — and took it to Oakland police, setting off an investigation that is looking into possible links to a headless corpse that was recently found. “Today, a couple individuals located a human skull in the backyard of the residence and thought it was a good idea to transport it down to the police station,” said Oakland police Sgt. Michael Cardoza. Around 9 a.m., Oakland homicide investigators were sent to the residence on 29th Street near West Street, which is a three-unit-apartment building that shares a backyard, and executed a search warrant to rule out any foul play, Cardoza said. “We conducted interviews with all of the residents and determined that at this time, it didn’t appear that they were involved,” Cardoza said. Police said they are investigating whether the head, which was in a state of decomposition, was linked to the “deeply decomposed” headless body found nearby in Oakland in late September. Cardoza declined to state where that body was found but said the body was in “close proximity” to the head found on 29th Street near West Street. “In that separate investigation, the body appeared to be deeply decomposed, almost mummified,” he said. Fentahun Biwota, a resident who lives next door on 29th Street, said there are many loiterers in the area, including people who have jumped the fence near his home and in the walkway that separates his home from the backyard where the head was found. Police said they are aware of the homicide investigation in San Francisco involving 65-year-old Brian Egg, whose headless body was found decomposing inside a fish tank in his South of Market neighborhood in San Francisco on August 17. Egg’s head was never found. Lance Silva, 39, and Robert MacCaffrey, 52, were arrested in connection to Egg’s death. The Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau is assisting in identifying the victim to determine if the head is linked to the body found in Oakland, Cardoza said. Anyone with information should contact the Oakland Police Department homicide unit at 510-238-3821. Anonymous callers may contact the tip line at 510-238-7950. Chronicle staff writer Gwendolyn Wu contributed to this report Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com @LaurenPorFavor<doc-sep>
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- What first seemed like a Halloween prank is now a suspicious death investigation after someone delivered a human skull to the Oakland Police Department Friday morning.People who live in the West Oakland neighborhood are in shock over the discovery of the skull. "I'm very sad. I'm very sad about that," said next door neighbor Fentahun Biwota when told about the skull.Sky 7 showed the backyard at West and 29th streets where two people visiting the home found it in plain sight. "It was decomposed and had a little bit of flesh on it," said Oakland Police Department Sgt. Michael Cardoza.What the people did next surprised even seasoned officers. "They thought it was real enough that it had to be brought to our attention immediately," Cardoza said.The people who discovered the decomposing head brought it downtown to the police station. At first officers thought maybe it was a prank, being so close to Halloween, but when they stepped outside and looked in the car they knew the head was real. "I can say in my years of service I've never had a human skull delivered to the police station," Cardoza said.The Alameda County Coroner's Bureau is now working to determine the identity and cause of death. "I'm not saying there's any foul play in this at all except for how it got here, that's something we're working on," Cardoza explained.The mystery is made more difficult because the skull was moved. "If I found it, I have to call the police before I touch it," neighbor Biwota said, a sentiment that was echoed by other neighbors.Police are searching through missing person's cases, working to locate the rest of the body, and asking anyone with information to come forward.Oakland police said anyone with information about the matter should call their homicide section at (510) 238-3821 or their tip line at (510) 238-7950.