LAKE COUNTY – A Lake County Sheriff's Office investigation Thursday afternoon shut down part of Highway 29 near the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff.

Sheriff Rod Mitchell would only say that “a death investigation under the jurisdiction of the sheriff's office” was the cause for the closure.

Mitchell would give no further details about the nature of the investigation, saying only that more information was expected to be released sometime today.

Signs along Highway 29 before the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff offramp said “accident ahead,” with detour signs then leading drivers off onto the cutoff and on to Nice. The onramp onto Highway 29 at cutoff also was blocked.

California Highway Patrol officers manned the road closure, but CHP Officer Josh Dye, the Clear Lake CHP office spokesman, said, “The incident was determined to be of the type that CHP does not handle.”

Dye added he could not release any more information on the incident because he didn't want to compromise LCSO's work.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

John Jensen contributed to this report. E-mail him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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