Coroner Releases Identity Of Man Who Died Under Suspicious Circumstances

More than four months after reports that police opened a suspicious death investigation following the discovery of a man who was found bleeding to death, the victim's identity has been released.

According to the Riverside County Coroner's Office, Riverside resident Darryl Smith Sr., 58, has been identified as the man found around 7:30 a.m. Jan. 21 in the 22000 block of Cajalco Road, in unincorporated area known as Mead Valley, just northeast of Lake Elsinore.

at approximately 7:48 a.m. on Jan. 21, deputies from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department Perris Station responded to a battery call to the area. When they arrived, deputies found a “male bleeding profusely from a wound to the leg,” reported Sgt. Todd Torrenti of the department’s Central Homicide Unit.

“Paramedics had already been summoned to the location and immediately transported the male to the hospital. Deputies secured the location and were notified that the victim succumbed to the injury at the hospital,” Torrenti reported.

Investigators from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department Perris Station and the department's Central Homicide Unit have assumed the investigation, which continues today.

Anyone who may have witnessed this incident or has information is encouraged to contact Investigator James Merrill of the Central Homicide Unit at (951) 955-2777, or Investigator John Wyatt of the Perris Station at (951) 210-1000.