Los Angeles, June 27 (EFE).- Authorities confirmed Tuesday that human remains found over the weekend by hikers in a mountainous area of Southern California are those of acclaimed English actor Julian Sands.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement uploaded to social media that the process of identifying the body had been completed but that the cause of death was still under investigation and is “pending further test results.”
Sands disappeared on Jan. 13 after going on a snowy hike alone in the Baldy Bowl area of the San Gabriel Mountains, roughly 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles.
A search was conducted using drones and helicopters, since the risk of avalanches and dangerous conditions on the trail hindered a ground search.
On June 24, authorities said some hikers notified them that they had found human remains in the Mount Baldy wilderness and that the body was subsequently transported to a local coroner’s office to determine the deceased person’s identity.
According to local media, the family of the 65-year-old actor expressed their gratitude in a statement, in which they said Sands had been a “wonderful father, husband, explorer, lover of the natural world and the arts and … an original and collaborative performer.”
Known for his roles in acclaimed films such as “A Room with a View” (1985), “Naked Lunch” (1991) and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (2011), as well as the television series “Smallville” (2009-2010), Sands was born on Jan. 4, 1958, in Otley, England, and moved to California in the 1980s to pursue a career in Hollywood.
A resident of North Hollywood, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, he was well known to his fans for being an avid outdoorsman. EFE
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