San Francisco homicide and forensics investigators are excavating a hilly area in McLaren Park where human remains were found Monday afternoon.
Police spokesman Sgt. Wilfred Williams said a San Francisco Recreation and Park Department crew saw a leg sticking out from under a tarp at about 10:30 a.m. while cleaning out a homeless encampment near the Gleneagles International Golf Course.
The area is at Sunnydale and Persia avenues on the western side of the park.
"As they were driving away from a particular area, they noticed a leg sticking out from underneath a blue tarp," said Williams. He said the find was accompanied by a pungent odor. The crew then notified police, Williams said.
Police roped off an approximately 50-square-yard area where units from homicide, crime scene investigation, the crime lab and the medical examiner's office are investigating, according to Williams.
A body was found in a shallow grave, police said, but they have yet to determine the age, gender or race of the person, or how long the remains had been there, he said.