Body found at Palm Desert hotel where AIG executive vanished

A body was found on the property of the Palm Desert hotel where a 33-year-old executive from Los Angeles vanished, authorities said Thursday.

The body was found near the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort in the 74800 block of Country Club Drive, said Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputy Armando Munoz.

The identity of the deceased was not released pending an investigation by the county coroner, Munoz said.

The hotel where the body was found is also the site where Omar Meza vanished the night of Jan. 8.

Meza was last seen about 11 p.m. at the hotel after arriving in the Coachella Valley for a business trip. Meza often travels for work and visits Palm Desert every other month.

Meza, a vice president for AIG Financial Distributors, has not used his credit cards since that day, his wife, Diane Meza, told The Times.

His wife was expecting a call from him to say goodnight, but she never received one.

When Meza didn’t show up for business meetings the next day, his wife and colleagues reported him missing.

Security cameras filmed him walking out of the hotel but don’t show where he went.

“It’s so out of character for him. He’s highly responsible and reliable,” Diane Meza said.
The couple have been married for five years and have no children.

In an effort to find him, Meza’s family, friends and clients launched a search campaign, a Facebook page and passed out fliers. The effort was bolstered by national media coverage.

Search efforts this week focused on three lakes on the hotel’s property, but on Wednesday, the Sheriff’s Department announced that it had completed its investigation of the property.

“The Sheriff’s Department utilized all available dive teams and search personnel resources to complete the search,” the department said in a statement.

Meza was last seen wearing a gray suit, white shirt and blue tie. He is 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighs 155 pounds, and has brown eyes and black hair.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

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