Jar Containing Brain Is Found in Truck

A jar containing what appears to be part of a human brain was discovered in the bed of a truck abandoned in Huntington Beach, police said Wednesday.

The blue 1962 Dodge pickup was found behind a motel on Yorktown Avenue on Jan. 14 and had been at a private impound lot ever since, police said. The brain, sealed in a half-gallon glass jar of murky liquid, apparently had been there undisturbed until the truck was cleaned out Wednesday to be put up for auction.

Detectives said they suspect the body part may have come from a medical school or laboratory. The Orange County coroner’s office will examine the brain today, though, to rule out foul play, authorities said.

“There’s nothing that points to this being a crime,” Huntington Beach police spokesman Lt. Chuck Thomas said. “But we’re just not quite sure why someone would have a brain.”

Homicide detectives are trying to contact the last owner of the truck but did not hold out much hope, Thomas said, because he did not respond to police notification when the truck was impounded. The owner, whose name is being withheld, lived in Whittier when the car was last registered.

The jar holding the brain was sealed with a rusty metal lid, police said. The worker who was cleaning out the truck also found a medical pump.

“It could have been a medical student--unless you think we have someone like Hannibal Lecter out there,” said Karen Pedersen, owner of Huntington Auto Tow Co., which had towed and stored the truck.

Pedersen said the employee discovered the jar while cleaning trash out of the truck and immediately called police.

“We’ve found live snakes, live kittens, live rats, bags of groceries and nasty movies in cars,” Pedersen said, “but never a brain.”

Police are asking anyone with information about the jar to call Det. Steve Mack at (714) 536-5607.