Sheriff’s deputies dug two bodies out of shallow graves on a remote Lancaster, California property and confirmed they are two local men who vanished last month, with investigators still refusing to say how they died or who did it.
Story Snapshot
- Homicide detectives found two sets of remains buried in shallow graves on a desert property near Lancaster.
- The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department identified the victims as Ricky Phillips, 61, and Edward Perez, 46.
- Both men were reported missing from the Lancaster area in September before their remains turned up.
- Investigators have not released a cause of death and have not named a suspect.
- Deputies kept digging at the site, raising the possibility more victims could be buried there.
Desert Property Yields Two Sets of Remains
Homicide investigators converged on a remote stretch of desert land in Lancaster, in the high desert north of Los Angeles, after a tip led them to shallow graves on the property. Crews worked the secluded site for days, carefully removing soil in a search that stretched from late September into October. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department treated the discovery as a death investigation from the start, bringing in forensic teams to process the remote scene.
Detectives did not immediately release details about how the graves were found or who tipped them off. What is clear is that the location sat far from public view, the kind of isolated desert tract that has quietly become a dumping ground in past California cases. Investigators kept the site secured while forensic specialists worked to recover and identify the remains buried there.
Investigators Confirm Identities of the Missing
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed the remains belong to Ricky Phillips, 61, and Edward Perez, 46, both from the Lancaster area. Family members and acquaintances had reported both men missing in September, before deputies connected their disappearances to the desert dig. The identifications gave grieving families answers about who was found, even as the bigger question of what happened to them remains unresolved.
Investigators have stayed tight-lipped about a cause of death for either man. That silence is not unusual in early homicide investigations, where medical examiners often need weeks of toxicology work before issuing a final ruling. Los Angeles County’s own medical examiner’s office notes that a “deferred” finding simply means more testing is pending, not that the case has stalled.
Search For Answers, and Possibly More Victims, Continues
Sheriff’s deputies did not stop digging once the first two bodies were recovered. Investigators kept working the property for additional days afterward, a sign they have not ruled out finding more remains buried at the same location. Detectives have not said publicly whether they believe Phillips and Perez were killed together, separately, or by the same person, leaving the motive and circumstances of their deaths unexplained for now.
No suspect has been named or arrested in connection with the deaths as of this reporting. Authorities have classified the deaths as part of a homicide investigation, a designation that signals detectives believe foul play was involved rather than accidental or natural causes. Families of the victims are left waiting for the sheriff’s department to disclose more as the probe moves forward.
A Troubling Pattern in California’s Deserts
This is not the first time California’s vast, empty desert stretches have hidden bodies for investigators to uncover later. The infamous McStay family murders ended when a motorcyclist stumbled on shallow graves holding four victims in the Mojave Desert years after the family vanished. Decades-old cases near Ludlow and Inyo County similarly involved remains buried in shallow graves that took investigators years, sometimes decades, to solve.
Law-abiding Californians deserve a justice system that moves fast and tells the public the truth, not one that leaves families waiting years for closure while killers walk free in the state’s remote stretches. The Lancaster case is still fresh, and deputies have shown they are actively working it. Conservative voters who have watched California’s crime headlines pile up will be watching closely to see whether this case gets solved quickly or joins the state’s long list of desert mysteries.
Missing men found dead in shallow graves in California desert as mystery grows https://t.co/0wNHtslkxP pic.twitter.com/V9JDveC5w8
— California Post (@californiapost) October 3, 2026
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has not set a timeline for releasing additional findings, including autopsy results or any suspect information. Residents in the Lancaster area, already on edge after weeks of uncertainty over the missing men, now wait to learn whether anyone will be held accountable for two more lives lost to California’s dangerous, lawless corners.
Sources:
nypost.com, latimes.com, rollingout.com, abc15.com, abcnews.com
