|
 Hikers near Palmdale, some 60 miles (97 km) north of Los Angeles,
discovered human remains on Oct. 26 which were later identified as
those of 20th Century Fox film distribution executive Gavin Smith,
said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Nicole Nishida.
Nishida said that autopsy results have not been finalized and the
cause of death has yet to be determined. She said the investigation
was still ongoing.
Smith, 57, was last seen on the night of May 1, 2012, driving in his
black Mercedes Benz away from a friend's house in Oak Park,
northwest of Los Angeles.
His disappearance made national headlines and prompted his family to
offer a $20,000 reward for information on his whereabouts. In May,
the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office declared Smith dead, two
years after he had gone missing.
 Smith was also known for playing on UCLA's 1975 national
championship basketball team.
The discovery of Smith's Mercedes in February 2013 inside a storage
facility linked to John Creech, a man who was imprisoned in a Los
Angeles County jail on an unrelated narcotics conviction, was
thought to have been a break in the case.
[to top of second column] |
Creech, who was considered a "person of interest" in the case, was
not charged in the disappearance, the sheriff's department said
then, adding that Smith had met Creech's wife in rehab in 2009.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Toby
Chopra)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
