Body in Simi Hills Identified as Missing Agoura Architect’s

A decomposed body found by teen-agers hiking in the Simi Valley hills was identified Tuesday as an Agoura landscape architect missing since early last year.

The Ventura County coroner’s office said the body, discovered last week, was that of Geoffrey Bennett, whose disappearance Jan. 15, 1986, prompted a widespread search.

Deputy Coroner Jim Wingate said Bennett, 42, killed himself with a shotgun blast in the head.

Bennett’s body was found last Wednesday by teen-agers on an afternoon hike near Indian Hills Ridge, a remote area a few miles north of the Simi Valley Freeway’s Kuehner Drive off-ramp.

A day after he disappeared last year, Bennett’s car was found on the Rocky Peak Fire Road, near the Santa Susana Pass. His keys were locked inside with his wallet, which was filled with cash and credit cards.

Friends said Bennett was a fitness buff who liked to hike and jog. They speculated at the time that he may have gone hiking and fallen into one of several hidden crevices in the secluded canyons.

When a search party, using two bloodhounds and a helicopter, found no trace of him, friends started their own search. About 40 volunteers searched a 14-square-mile area between Chatsworth and Simi Valley for the father of three.

Wingate said Bennett was identified through dental records and X-rays.