Santa Clara County officials investigate after human skull found

LOS GATOS, Calif. (KGO) -- Santa Clara County Sheriff's detectives have been processing the area where a human skull was found Monday morning in an unincorporated part of Los Gatos.

The skull was found nearly two miles up Montevina Road.

Homicide detectives, search and rescue teams and cadaver dogs converged on the steep and narrow road above Los Gatos.

The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department got a call from someone who discovered a human skull on Sherrys Way and Montevina Road.

"They're trying to locate any evidence, all evidence that can be part of a crime if it is a crime," said Santa Clara County Sheriff's Sgt. James Jensen. "So later, if we can determine if it was a crime, we have the evidence that's at the scene."

Detectives haven't confirmed yet if the skull is that of a man or woman. They also don't know how long it's been there. So far, they've found no other body parts in the area.

Word spread quickly among the people who live in the part of the Santa Cruz mountains.

Deputies had to escort residents past the road block, a drive they've taken countless times without much thought, until Monday.

"It's sad knowing that I drove passed someone every day. Everyone has a right to be put to rest when they're dead so it's pretty sad," said Ryan Moles a Los Gatos resident.

For the sheriff's department, a possible clue to any number of cases involving a missing person.