Executive Found Dead at Airport

An executive of an Anaheim demolition company was found dead of a head injury Tuesday near a parking structure at John Wayne Airport, authorities said.

Two people watching flights take off from an upper level of parking structure A noticed the body in a drainage ditch on the runway side at about 2 p.m., Lt. Dan Martini said. The man, in his 50s, appeared to have been dead for at least a few hours, Martini said, but probably not overnight. His name had not been released late Tuesday night.

The cause of death is pending an autopsy this morning, but Martini said the man appeared to have died as a result of blunt trauma to the head. He could have fallen from the multistory structure or could have been assaulted, authorities said.

Parked on an off-ramp of the southbound San Diego Freeway, about 50 yards from where the body was found, was a 1988 Jeep Cherokee registered to the Penhall Co. Inside the Jeep was a hard hat, orange highway vest, car phone and an open pack of cigarettes.

A company executive, who asked not to be named, said the man was “well-known” at Penhall, and had worked in management at the Anaheim headquarters “for a number of years.”