Death of man found at Fashion Island ‘suspicious’

Deepa Bharath

FASHION ISLAND -- A 41-year-old Huntington Beach man found dead early

Monday at the base of a three-story parking garage may have jumped off

the building, police said.

But officers are investigating Jeffrey Paris Wall’s death as a

“suspicious” one, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman.

He said a pedestrian on his way to the 24 Hour Fitness in the 600

block of Newport Center Drive saw the dead body and called police about

5:50 a.m.

Shulman said police are treating the death as suspicious because of

the victim’s age and the circumstances under which he was found.

“The man was not wearing any workout clothes,” he said.

Investigators are looking into what Wall was doing in that area at

that time, Shulman said.

He said the Orange County coroner conducted an autopsy Monday but said

establishing a cause of death would require further tests and toxicology

reports. Shulman said the coroner was able to identify Wall using

fingerprint records.

He also said officers found Wall’s car parked nearby.

Business went on without much disruption in the shopping center.

Shulman said parking was diverted for a while in the morning, but there

were no traffic diversions.

Visitors to Fashion Island on Monday morning said the incident

surprised them.

“A lot of people die, but they don’t die like this,” said Barbara

MacDonald, a longtime Newport Beach resident. “It does seem suspicious.”

But, MacDonald added, incidents such as this are common in a lot of

communities.

“It happens all over the place,” she said. “So why won’t it happen in

our little bubble here?”

Others going to the gym said they were not too surprised.

“A lot of people live in this area,” said Tom Williams, who works in

the city. “Such things are bound to happen at least once in a while.”