Huge weapons cache found in mystery man death probe

The body of a mystery man was decomposing in his car in the ritzy Pacific Palisades neighbourhood in Southern California for nearly two weeks before he was found by authorities, an attorney said Wednesday.

Inside his home, detectives discovered more than 1,200 guns, scopes, six tonnes of ammunition, bows and arrows, knives, machetes and $ 230,000 in cash after he was found last Friday.

They also located eight of the 14 vehicles stashed around Los Angeles registered to the man, including an SUV designed to drive underwater. Who he was and how he came to accumulate the arsenal are questions authorities are still trying to answer.

Veteran defence attorney Harland Braun represents the man’s fiancee, Catherine Nebron, and identified him as Jeffrey Alan Lash. That’s also the name authorities are working with and they’re in touch with a relative to try to officially identify the body.

Lash and Nebron were together for 17 years and she believed him when he told her that he worked as an undercover operative for unnamed government agencies, Braun said.

“The story itself sounds totally crazy but then how do you explain all this?” Braun said.

Detectives were reviewing everything, but so far the guns appeared to be registered to him. Many were still in boxes or had price tags.

Authorities don’t believe there was any foul play involved, but won’t give a cause until there is more investigation.