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# Coroner orders tests on homeless man’s body
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/coroner-orders-tests-on-homeless-mans-body/
- Published: 2003-11-20T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T03:15:28.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Community, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless

*DEATH, from page 1 Vigil planned for Friday*

*By Daily Press staff*

INTERSTATE 10 — It will be two months before it’s known how a homeless man died on a freeway embankment here this past Sunday.

Los Angeles Coroner’s Office spokesman David Campbell said the autopsy of Bobby Ray Capps, 62, was conducted on Wednesday, but the medical examiner deferred the cause of death so toxicology reports could be performed. Results from those reports could take up to two months to return.

However, Campbell said it appears Capps suffered some trauma to the head, which is consistent with what the Santa Monica Police Department has revealed in its investigation.

SMPD officers arrested David Brevig, 41, a transient, on Sunday in connection with Capps’ death. The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office charged Brevig on Tuesday with manslaughter. Bre-vig allegedly assaulted Capps on Thursday night, which led to his death more than two days later.

Apparently during the assault, Capps hit his head on a pole.

Albert Williams, Capps’ brother, found him dead on Sunday morning after taking care of him for more than two days. Capps was assaulted at the camp where the brothers have been living for the past seven years. The camp is located under the Lincoln Boulevard off-ramp on the Santa Monica Freeway.

Williams, who witnessed the assault on Thursday night, took his brother to the emergency room at Saint John’s Hospital when he realized Capps’ head was gushing blood. After he received about 14 stitches, Capps was released from the hospital and walked back to the camp with Williams.

Williams tended to his severely injured brother until Sunday morning when he found him dead after going into town to get cigarettes.

Saint John’s Hospital spokeswoman Barbara Bishop said it’s the hospital’s policy to administer care to anyone. If Capps’ condition warranted him being admitted, the hospital would have, she added.

“We treat the indigent the same way as any other patient,” she said. “It has nothing to do with whether they have money or not.”

A candlelight vigil will be held in Capps’ memory in front of the kiosk at the Third Street Promenade and Santa Monica Boulevard on Friday, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 20, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/112003.pdf?ref=smdp.com)