Missing Deputy Found Dead
Thursday, Jan 7, 2010 | Updated 3:00 PM PST
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A 42-year-old Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who was reported missing after he went for a run in the Cleveland National Forest outside Corona was found dead Tuesday.
Rescue workers found Zoltan Tombol's body about 2:20 p.m. in Riverside County, said Brea police Sgt. Bill Smyser. Brea police were leading the search because they patrol Yorba Linda, where Tombol lived.
How the deputy died was not immediately released.
Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said an autopsy would be conducted Wednesday. Gutierrez said determining the cause of death might depend on toxicology tests, which could take six to eight weeks.
"The Riverside County Sheriff's Department will be conducting a death investigation," Gutierrez said. "The remains will be removed from this area to the coroner's bureau, which is located in the city of Perris."
Tombol was reported missing about 6:30 p.m. Sunday by his wife after he failed to pick up his son as planned, according to Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
A multi-agency search team of more than 100, including some on horseback and some with dogs, scoured a three-mile area, with two helicopters scouting the forest from above, Whitmore said.
Tombol, who was a 19-year law-enforcement veteran and former member of the elite 82nd Airborne Army Division, was also an avid outdoorsman and hiker who was in great shape, Whitmore said.
No foul play was suspected in the disappearance, investigators said earlier.
Tombol's gray Ford F-150 pickup truck was discovered Monday by Corona police at the end of a fire access road south of Green River Road and the Riverside (91) Freeway in Riverside County, Smyser said.
"This is all under investigation, and all of this will be looked at from top to bottom, and when it's appropriate, if they can they will release further information," Whitmore said. "It's a sad day for the L.A. County Sheriff's Department. We've lost a 19-year veteran, a valued member of our family."
