The body of Gavin Smith, a Hollywood movie executive missing since 2012, has been found and identified northeast of Los Angeles in the Angeles National Forest, according to the Los Angeles County authorities, who are treating the case as a homicide.
Smith's remains were discovered by hikers in a rural area of Palmdale, northern Los Angeles County, on Sunday, the County Sheriff's Office confirmed. The cause of death remains unclear as the results of an autopsy have not been finalized, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
With the 57-year-old's family already having been notified, additional information on the case is planning to be released Thursday morning by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office, who is handling the investigation.
On May 1, 2012, the 20th Century Fox executive went missing after reportedly leaving a friend's Oak Park, California, home in his car. "The night he went missing, authorities say, Smith drove off, without a word, and never came back," ABC News reported.
While Smith's disappearance was initially considered to be a missing person's case, it was reclassified as a possible homicide after police found his 2000 Mercedes Benz 420E nearly a year later in a Simi Valley storage facility.
The storage unit was registered and owned by John Creech, a convicted drug dealer whose wife had been in rehab with Smith, and was allegedly having an affair with the married father of three, E! News reported.
Creech, who has not been charged but has been named as a person of interest in the case, is currently in custody on a drug charge at the Men's Central Jail, and is serving an eight year sentence, NBC Los Angeles reported.
Investigators believe Smith was killed within a week of his disappearance, and his death was ruled as a homicide in May 2013, despite the absence of a dead body.
Meanwhile at 6-foot-6, Smith played basketball under legendary coach John Wooden, and was part of UCLA's 1975 National Championship squad. Later, he broke into acting and spent 18 years in the movie industry, helping to distribute movies such as "Avatar" and the "Star Wars" trilogy.
