A hat from a sailing club in Berkeley and dental records enabled the Marin County coroner's office to identify the man who was found dead on the east side of state Highway 1 north of Stinson Beach in May.
The deceased man is Raymond Caravacci, 77, who lived in the Stinson Beach area but also had a long history of homelessness and mental health conditions, Assistant Chief Deputy Coroner Lt. Keith Boyd said.
Foul play is not suspected but the National Parks Service and the Marin County coroner's office "will explore all avenues as the investigation moves forward," Boyd said.
The cause of death is pending a final anthropological study of Caravacci's skeletal remains, Boyd said.
Visitors from Switzerland found the badly decomposed body on May 4 within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, GGNRA spokeswoman Alexandra Picavet said.
Caravacci's body was not identifiable by visual means or fingerprints, and he was never reported missing, Boyd said.
Local
Items of clothing on or near the remains were used to track down leads to identify the body, and lists of missing persons that met the deceased person's biological profile also were ruled out as possible matches, Boyd said.
Ultimately a fleece cap with a logo that was found at the scene was traced to a sailing club in Berkeley, Boyd said. A sailing club staff member, who lives in the Stinson Beach area, recalled giving one of the club's hats to an unknown homeless person in the Stinson Beach area about a year ago, Boyd said.
Further investigation led to a tentative identification of Caravacci as the recipient of the hat, Boyd said.
The state Department of Justice determined on May 28 that Caravacci had an appointment with a dentist with the state's Denti-Cal insurance plan, Boyd said, and the DOJ sent the coroner's division copies of Caravacci's dental records.
Another dentist then used the dental records to positively identify Caravacci as the deceased person, Boyd said.
The coroner's division also received DNA samples from Caravacci's family but by then the identity was established, Boyd said.
"Ultimately it was the dental," Boyd said.
