City workers stumbled onto a dead body Wednesday morning near Willow Glen Drive and Dehesa Road in unincorporated El Cajon, flagging down Sycuan Tribal officers around 11:08 a.m. before San Diego County Sheriff's Homicide Unit detectives took over the case.
The San Diego County Sheriff's Office confirmed that city workers reported finding the body, and detectives assumed investigative authority over the death, according to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News. Workers flagged down Sycuan Tribal Police before the Sheriff's Homicide Unit took over the investigation. As of Wednesday, the case remained a developing story, with the station reporting no further detail on the identity of the deceased.
The San Diego County Department of the Medical Examiner will determine the person's identity and cause of death.
A Corridor With a Troubled Recent History
This is not the first time this stretch of rural East County has drawn law enforcement attention. In April 2025, 53-year-old Michelle Elaine Moden went missing from Dehesa Road and was found about a week later along Sequan Truck Trail near Sycuan Casino.
Just months before this week's discovery, in February 2025, the Sheriff's Homeless Assistance Resource Team conducted an enforcement operation near Willow Glen Drive, making multiple arrests at an encampment after reports of criminal activity and a fire. Deputies had reportedly tried outreach and social-service offers before ultimately clearing the site.
Further back, in February 2021, Sheriff's homicide detectives and Sycuan Police jointly investigated a fatal shooting inside a hotel room at the Singing Hills Golf Resort at Sycuan, just off Dehesa Road near Willow Glen Drive. Sycuan Fire Department personnel administered emergency lifesaving measures at that scene before the victim died at a hospital.
Dehesa Road's Dark National Spotlight
Dehesa Road itself carries a heavier historical weight than most rural East County roads. The corridor gained national attention in 2002 when searchers located the remains of 7-year-old murder victim Danielle van Dam in the area, a discovery that, as reported by CBS 8, halted plea negotiations between prosecutors and defense attorneys for convicted killer David Westerfield.
More recently, in May 2026, a man was sentenced for a 2023 murder after confessing to killing a victim and dragging the body down a hill near Sloan Canyon Road, which branches off Dehesa Road, according to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office. That victim's body was recovered from a shallow grave after a witness spotted the remains.
Singing Hills Memorial Park
Willow Glen Drive is far from a quiet backroad. Per the San Diego County Traffic Advisory Committee, the stretch between Dehesa Road and SR-54 carries a 50 mph speed limit and sees more than 15,000 daily trips, much of it traffic bound for Sycuan Casino.
That volume has come with a cost. In September 2026, a 32-year-old cyclist riding on east Willow Glen Drive west of Dehesa Road near Singing Hills Golf Resort was struck from behind and killed by an SUV driver, with the California Highway Patrol investigating after the driver reportedly drifted onto the shoulder at roughly 45 mph, as detailed by BikinginLA.
Singing Hills Memorial Park is a memorial park.
What Investigators Still Don't Know
As of Wednesday, the decedent's identity and cause of death had not been determined. The Medical Examiner's office will determine those facts, while the Sheriff's Homicide Unit continues investigating the circumstances surrounding the death.
