Search ends for more remains near "Hollywood" sign, police work to ID victim

(CBS/AP) LOS ANGELES - A search for more human body parts in a secluded hiking spot within sight of the "Hollywood" sign has ended, but police are still trying to identify the victim whose dismembered remains were found this week.

Investigators are looking for a motive and suspects in the discovery of a severed head, feet and hands in Bronson Canyon Park. No arrests had been made of late Thursday.

The dismembered body parts were found by a dog walker who let one of her animals off the leash. They had been there a few days at most. The head was discovered Tuesday inside a plastic bag, the feet and hands on Wednesday.

"If it had not been for the dog walker, we might never have found it," police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said Thursday.

Police believe the unidentified man is between 40 and 60 years old. Smith said coroner's investigators would try to identify the man through fingerprints, and if that fails, search DNA databases and dental records.

As 120 officers and firefighters on foot and horseback fought their way through 7 acres of brush this week looking for the victim's torso, some searchers used ropes to rappel into a steep drainage culvert.

Police are looking for a motive and reviewing hundreds of theories provided by both detectives and local residents. Investigators think the victim was killed somewhere else and brought to the park.

"We have no indication there is a serial murderer running around," Smith added.

Bronson Canyon is a quiet neighborhood of homes that ends at the park. Until the remains were found, the most serious things residents said they had to worry about were the coyotes and smash-and-grab burglars who sometimes target hikers' cars.

More on Crimesider
Jan. 19, 2012- Two feet discovered near severed head, hands in Hollywood HillsJan. 18, 2012 - Dog walkers find human head in plastic bag in Hollywood Hills