Man killed in downtown attack identified

A homeless man who was brutally attacked in downtown Mountain View in November and died of his injuries has been identified following a months-long search for his next of kin.

The man was identified this week as Jose Ospina Jaramillo, a 55-year-old transient, according to the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office. The coroner's office would not release Ospina Jaramillo's identity for three months while attempting to find his next of kin. The information was released last week after the search failed to find any survivors.

Ospina Jaramillo was attacked in Mountain View's Civic Center Plaza in front of the Center for Performing Arts on Saturday, Nov. 4. He died the next day from from blunt force trauma caused by multiple blows to the head, according to police documents submitted to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.

The police account of the attack states that the suspect, Jan Neal, struck the victim with a bicycle, a metal table and a metal chair, and continued the assault even when the suspect was unconscious on the ground. Neal, a 43-year-old man with an address listed in Palo Alto, was arrested and remains in custody without bail. He is due to appear in court on March 5 for a plea proceeding.

The Mountain View Police Department originally identified Jamarillo as a 55-year-old homeless man on the night of the attack, which police spokeswoman Katie Nelson described as "potential" identification.