Body of Fox Exec Missing Since 2012 Found

Gavin Smith's remains discovered in Angeles National Forest last week
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 6, 2014 1:11 PM CST
Body of Fox Exec Missing Since 2012 Found
This file photo released by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department shows missing 20th Century Fox executive Gavin Smith, who was last seen May 1, 2012.   (AP Photo/Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department)

The worst fears of Gavin Smith's family have been confirmed. The body of the 20th Century Fox executive, who went missing on May 1, 2012, was discovered by hikers in California on Oct. 26 and has been positively identified as Smith's, the AP reports. The body was found in Angeles National Forest, according to the Hollywood Reporter; although results of the autopsy aren't finalized, Smith's disappearance was already being treated as a murder after his Mercedes-Benz was found in February 2013 in a storage building belonging to drug dealer John Creech, the Reporter noted at the time. Smith was officially declared dead in May of this year, ABC 7 originally reported. Smith, a film distributor for Fox, was last seen at a friend's house in Southern California, where he had reportedly gone to spend the night, ABC News reports.

When he didn't show to pick up his son from school the next day, his wife reported him missing. Local media reported a sighting of him with another woman on May 7, 2012, and his son was said to have tweeted Smith had ditched his family (that tweet was reportedly deleted later on). However, his family said he had last been seen wearing his son's purple workout pants, a clear indicator he had no intention of being seen in public. His wife, Lisa, acknowledged in an October 2012 interview with Inside Edition that her husband had a history of extramarital activity and drug abuse (he was alleged to have had an affair with Creech's wife, notes the Hollywood Reporter), but she said she thought he had been murdered. "I don't picture him walking in and saying, 'I'm sorry, I just needed a breather.' It is just not going to happen, it is just not who he was." (More 20th Century Fox stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X