The body of a man discovered earlier this month in Mission Creek Preserve has been identified as that of a Yucca Valley man. According to coroner’s reports form the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, Deputies were called to the preserve near Whitewater on August 10 for a report that a body had been discovered just west of Highway 62 on Mission Creek Road. On Wednesday (August 18), the Sheriff’s Department identified the body as that of Matthew Jernigan, 28, of Yucca Valley. Sheriff’s reports indicate that Jernigan’s body was unclothed and that belongings were strewn about on the other side of the road around 50-feet away. An investigation into Journigan’s cause of death is ongoing.
