Rev. Danny Fisher

This out of Midway City, CA:

A decomposed body found at a Buddhist worship center is believed to be a nun who hasn’t been seen since May, Orange County Sheriff’s officials said.

A worker found the badly decomposed female body in a shed at the “Tu Quang” – or “little temple” – Buddhist worship center at 14641 Purdy Ave. about 3 p.m. on Thursday, sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said.

Authorities believe the remains are of the missing 41-year-old woman, although a positive ID has not been made, and an autopsy performed on Friday did not determine a cause of death.No one from the worship center filed a missing persons report for the woman. “They believed that she just left, but her personal belongings were still at the temple,” Amormino said.

The members of the worship center said no one had entered the shed since May, Amormino said.

While the worker found the body about 3 p.m., Sheriff’s weren’t notified until about 7 p.m. on Thursday, Amormino said.Deputies originally thought the body was wrapped in cloth, but later realized it was actually traditional Buddhist attire.

The body showed no obvious signs of trauma, Amormino said, with toxicology tests and further investigation needed to determine her cause of death.

Tucked between residential homes in a quiet neighborhood off Hazard Avenue, the worship center comprises a one-story building and a front-yard adorned with a Buddhist sculpture. No one was available at the home late Friday afternoon who could comment on the missing woman or the body.

The AP and ABC-7 (see below) have picked up the story as well, and there’s also a post about all of this at Digital Tibetan Buddhist Altar. I’ll have more as it develops.