Body found burning and hanging from tree in Griffith Park

A dead body was found burning and hanging from a tree in Griffith Park near the merry-go-round on Tuesday.

Police and the fire department were contacted by park rangers after a witness came across a fire in a tree with a body hanging above the flames.

The fire department arrived at the scene at 12:31 p.m. and extinguished the fire. When the fire was put out, they found human remains that suggested the person was already dead when the body was found.

The body remained hung in the tree until around 2:00 p.m. when the coroner arrived and lowered the body.

Margaret Stewart of the Los Angeles Fire Department told the Los Angeles Daily News that the body belonged to a woman.

The woman has not been identified due to the extensive burns, but they have determined that she died of self-immolation, according to the Los Angeles Times.

LAPD Detective Michael Ventura told ABC7, “There are no indicators of foul play… This is going to be somebody who brought some gasoline, brought some lighters. We have had, they are rare, but we do have cases where people will self-immolate. Or they choose to set themselves on fire.”

The coroner’s investigation is pending, but authorities believe the death to be an apparent suicide, according to LAPD officer Norma Eisenman.

Law enforcement believes the woman to be a frequent visitor of the park and possibly a “local transient.”