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Sacramento County coroner uses AI-generated image to help identify unhoused man who died

Authorities are trying to identify a resident of a Sacramento homeless shelter who died earlier this year and have generated an image of the man using artificial intelligence to seek the public's help. 

The Sacramento County Coroner's Office said that on February 4, a man experienced cardiac arrest at a shelter on Bannon Street north of the railyards. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after.

Shelter personnel indicated he had used the name Walter Hernandez Quinonez and a birth of August 26, 1968; however, the man's fingerprints did not lead to a positive identification, according to the Coroner's Office. 

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AI-generated image of unidentified man who died after suffering cardiac arrest at a Sacramento homeless shelter in February 2026. Sacramento County Coroner's Office

On Tuesday, the office released an AI-generated image of the man which is a combination of a human-generated sketch and actual photos of the man post-mortem. 

The man appears to be Hispanic, between 50 and 60 years old with shoulder-length black hair with some gray in it. He weighed 151 pounds and stood at 5 feet 8 inches tall. He had brown eyes and his teeth were natural and well-preserved, the office said. There were no tattoos or notable marks or scars on his body.

Anyone with information about the identity of the man was asked to contact the Sacramento County Coroner's Office at 916-874-9320 or at DeputyCoroner@saccounty.gov.

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