The body of a man discovered in the trunk of a car in Mendocino County earlier this month belonged to a Ceres man.

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office made an identity in the homicide case as Marco Antonio Barrera Beltran, 51, of Ceres.

The victim was discovered Oct. 3 in the 27000 block of Mendocino Pass Road near rural Covelo, a small town 40 miles northeast of Fort Bragg, by a warden of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who considered the vehicle suspicious.

Beltran had been living in Ceres but previously lived in Michoacan, Mexico, said Mendocino County Sheriff’s Capt. Greg Van Patten.

Detectives believe the homicide was a “body-dump type of murder,” said Van Patten which will likely result in a protracted investigation.