Homicide Suspect’s Skull with Bullet Hole Found off La Jolla

The remains of Ismael Lopez, wanted in connection to the on La Jolla Scenic Drive North, have been recovered off the coast of La Jolla.

The Medical Examiner’s Office determined Wednesday that bones recovered off the coast of La Jolla, including a skull with a bullet hole in it, were those of .

According to police reports, Sahou was working as a self-employed cab driver when he picked up Lopez at an unknown location on Sept. 28. The cab reportedly stopped in the 8600 block of La Jolla Scenic Drive North, where Lopez allegedly shot Sahou to death, according to police.

Lopez then allegedly fled in the cab, which he abandoned in the 1200 block of Coast Boulevard near La Jolla Cove that same night, police said.

“Paint transfer on the cab matched marks on the wooded fence above the ocean, leading investigators to conclude Lopez jumped the curb by accident or contemplated driving the cab into the ocean,” according to a San Diego Police Department report.

Nearly a month later on Oct. 24, a under 15 feet of water off Hospital Point, approximately one mile from where the cab was left abandoned.

San Diego lifeguards searched for the reported remains the following day. Lifeguard Lt. Andy Lerum told Patch on Oct. 25 that the diver reported seeing bones that “he thought they looked similar to a pelvis, vertebrae and a femur.”

San Diego Lifeguard Services did not find the remains in their dive.

A few weeks later on Nov. 15, a second diver found bones off shore in the same general area as the first report, according to police, and turned them over to police.

The city conducted three subsequent dives and produced additional bones, according to a police report released Dec. 22. The Medical Examiner’s office examined those bones and extracted DNA. The department’s Crime Lab determined that the bones were Lopez’s.

The San Diego Police Homicide Unit and Medical Examiner’s Office will continue to investigate how Lopez died.