Body found in parked car identified as L.A. filmmaker reported missing
Sheriff’s deputies believe the body of a white male adult — discovered Friday night in a parking garage in La Cañada Flintridge’s Town Center— belongs to be a Los Angeles filmmaker reported missing by his family on Dec. 30.
The death appears to have been a suicide, sheriff’s deputies confirmed Saturday.
Travis Joel Peterson, 40, was last seen on Dec. 30 on the 1500 block of Foothill Boulevard, according to a release issued last week by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Northeast Division. Peterson’s disappearance was reported just five days after his 40th birthday, on Christmas day.
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Reports of his disappearance, made via social media by several friends and family members, indicated he was thought to be driving a light-colored Volvo station wagon. At the time of the report, Peterson’s family was concerned for his safety, the release stated.
On Friday, at around 7:25 p.m., a call came into the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station from an informant who reported seeing a deceased man inside a vehicle parked in the parking structure outside the former Sport Chalet retail store, according to Irma Chevalier, a watch commander at the station.
“When [the informant] tried to make contact, there was no response,” Chevalier said in an interview Friday night. “We don’t expect any foul play.”
Staff from the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner arrived on scene late Friday to claim the body, according to the watch commander.
Another watch commander for the Crescenta Valley Station, Sgt. Patrick Coussa, confirmed the vehicle description provided by the person who discovered the body in La Cañada matched that of a person reported missing by LAPD earlier this week.
“It was a suicide more than likely,” Coussa added. “It’s still an active investigation, but that’s what we believe.”
Peterson’s cause of death has yet to be released. His writing and directing credits on the entertainment database IMDb include an appearance as a young surfer in the 2005 movie “Lords of Dogtown.”
