Man Found Dead in a Vehicle Near Banning

Update 9 p.m. Thursday:

The man found dead in a car parked on the Morongo Indian Reservation has been identified as a Banning resident.

Coroner's reports released Thursday indicate that Richard Cortez lived in the city.

Officials also indicated his age was 27, rather than 28, as sheriff's officials initially reported.

"Due to the circumstance," homicide investigators are handling the case, according to the sheriff's department.

Original story as follows:

Investigators with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Cabazon station and Morongo Tribal officers are working to determine what killed a man found dead in a vehicle late Wednesday morning.

Tribal officers found Richard Augustine Cortez, 28, at 11:33 a.m. in a vehicle in the 48000 block of Chino Road near Banning, on the Morongo Indian Reservation, officials said Thursday.

Cortez is not a member of the Morongo Tribe, sheriff's officials said.

The investigation is ongoing and no further information is immediately available, officials said.

Riverside County Sheriff's investigators ask anyone with information on Cortez to call the Sheriff's Central Homicide Unit at (760) 393-3500 or Cabazon Station Investigators at (951) 922-7100.