Photos by Will Davison/KHTS

UPDATED 5:00 p.m. Monday

A body found Monday morning above Castaic may be that of a woman, but confirmation will not be available until an autopsy is conducted, according to investigators.

Homicide Detective Frank Salerno said that they still don’t know the sex of the body found by firefighters putting out a brush fire, but that initial speculation was that the victim is a woman. Coroner’s officials have scheduled an autopsy for Wednesday, at which time it is hoped that gender, race and possibly age of the victim will be determined.

“The next step is determining who the victim is; what was that person up to or involved with,” Salerno said. “We don’t know if this is a drifter or if someone will be reporting a missing person.”

Homicide investigators responded to Templin Highway about a mile east of the I-5 early this morning after fire crews found the body while mopping up a small fire.

A reported “large pool of blood” on San Martinez Canyon Road in Val Verde turned out to not be related to the incident; Salerno said that it was possible that it was a leftover effect from a film crew that had been in the area.

Los Angeles County Fire received the call of smoke in the area at 5:39 a.m. As crews were mopping up after the small blaze, the discovery was made.

According to Cmdr. Anthony LaBerge of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s station, the body was burned beyond recognition and investigators from the Sheriff’s Arson/Explosives unit were working with homicide on the case.

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It has not been determined if the person died at the scene or elsewhere and was transported and dumped by the side of the road.