SAN DIEGO — San Diego County has released a death certificate confirming skeletal remains found September 17 in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park are those of a former Navy SEAL from Morongo Valley.
The SEAL, John Fitzpatrick, 52, had been reported missing in July along with his companion, a 47-year-old Chinese national named Fang Jin.
The San Bernardino County coroner’s office previously confirmed Jin’s remains were found on October 28. Both remains were found near Harper Canyon. A San Diego County death certificate for Jin still has not been released.
The death certificate lists Fitzpatrick’s cause of death as “pending.” Both autopsies remain sealed because of an ongoing investigation.
Fitzpatrick’s death certificate includes the GPS location of his remains (33°7'14.9 N 116°14'27.8 W). The GPS location on the death certificate is about one mile north of the area previously reported to CBS 8 by the hiker who found the ex-Navy SEAL’s body in September.
“I’d say that’s pretty exact. That’s where it was,” the hiker told CBS 8 after seeing a pin drop of the new GPS coordinates released by San Diego County. The man asked that his name not be included in this report.
San Diego County routinely redacts the signatures of physicians and medical examiners, as well as social security numbers, when releasing informational copies of death certificates to the public. CBS 8 redacted the name and address of Fitzpatrick's "previous spouse" listed on the document for privacy reasons.
CBS 8 obtained photographs of Fitzpatrick’s remains depicting a skull and jawbone separated from other remains located close by.
CBS 8 reported on October 17 that family members had been notified of Fitzpatrick’s death. The release of the death certificate is the first official identification of the remains released to the public by San Diego County.
Fitzpatrick's 4-wheel-drive truck was found abandoned several miles away from his remains. San Diego County officials have not released the location of the truck, citing an ongoing investigation exemption to the California Public Records Act (CPRA).
On October 19, CBS 8 filed a CPRA request with San Bernardino County Sheriff seeking, “all law enforcement calls for service to any unit number in the Roadrunner Mobile Home Park, 51063 29 Palms Hwy from June 1, 2023 to 10/19/2023”… and “…complete CAD records related to the above calls for service.”
Fitzpatrick lived in space #48 at the Roadrunner Mobile Home Park. Jin had been staying with him after flying into Los Angeles from China on July 14.
Responding to the CBS 8 request, San Bernardino County Sheriff chose not to release the public records or the CAD (computer aided dispatch) records, citing an ongoing investigation and privacy reasons.
Instead, on November 21, the Sheriff’s department released a list of “call summary information” specifically created and edited by San Bernardino County staff for release to CBS 8.
The summary list includes calls made by residents in the mobile home park around the time Fitzpatrick and Jin went missing on July 22.
On July 20 at 9:45 p.m., a call for service was summarized as:
“Reporting party says she is packing up and leaving location, says a male from another space number took some of her stuff out of her truck. Reporting party not saying the relationship between them but refers to his new girlfriend having gotten her stuff back to her. Reporting party keeps saying she wants a deputy for keep the peace, but she is there alone. Then she advised the male sent her a threatening text message.”
The call above references Fitzpatrick and his “new girlfriend” Jin, two sources told CBS 8 on the condition they not be identified.
On July 21 at 10:06 p.m., a call for service was summarized as:
“Reporting Party called for welfare check on neighbor says, ‘I think my neighbor died’. She’s not answering the door. Reporting Party says they have not seen neighbor in about 4 days. Also advised of bad odor coming from location.”
The call above apparently references a 60-year-old neighbor, not Jin or Fitzpatrick, but because the call list is a summary only, it’s difficult to decipher the meaning. A complete CAD record of the event would typically include timestamps and chronological notes related to the call from start to finish.
One thing is clear: San Bernardino deputies responded to these calls for service. The complete list, as summarized by the Sheriff, is posted on this page.
As CBS previously reported, investigators served search warrants on Fitzpatrick’s space #48 on August 1 and August 3, 2023. The August 1 search warrant referenced a previous call for service where, “Deputies were in the Roadrunner Mobile Home Park and spoke to Fitzpatrick. An unknown Asian female adult was seen with him.” It's unclear from the newly-released records which call for service was being referenced.
Deputies also noticed a "odor of decomposition" in Fitzpatrick's mobile home while serving the search warrant, an observation which still has not been explained in records released by law enforcement.
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Editor's note: this article has been updated to include additional source information and a clarification that San Diego County routinely redacts signatures on death certificates.
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