Garden Grove : Autopsy Ordered on Body Found in Mine

An autopsy will be performed on the decomposed body of a Garden Grove man missing since December and retrieved by police Tuesday from the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft in the Mojave Desert, police said.

Randy Scott Hoogland, 27, of Fullerton was being held in Orange County Jail following his arraignment Tuesday on a murder charge in connection with the death of David Wayne Alexander. Hoogland was arrested last Friday by Garden Grove police, Sgt. Bruce Beauchamp said.

Alexander, 28, was last seen Dec. 10 by his mother, Delores Taylor, also of Garden Grove, Beauchamp said. Taylor reported Dec. 13 that her son and his car, a 1976 Chevrolet Nova, were missing.

“He (Alexander) had not contacted her (Taylor), had not shown up for work . . . as a body-building instructor for Westminster Holiday Health Spa,” Beauchamp said. “None of his friends or relatives had heard from him. Further investigation revealed that he had, in fact, been murdered.”

Beauchamp said there is still no motive apparent for the killing. Although the body has yet to be positively identified, “we feel certain that it is the remains of David Wayne Alexander,” he said.

Hoogland and Alexander had been working together on a film or television script before the murder, Beauchamp said, and Hoogland was about to move in with Alexander. Although Beauchamp would not disclose the nature of the investigation, he said that Hoogland led investigators Saturday to the body in an abandoned mine near Ridgecrest in Kern County. Hoogland also led police to Alexander’s car, which was found abandoned in the parking lot of a Cypress shopping center.