Suspect Leads Detectives to Buried Remains

After a murder suspect showed them where to search along a road in the Angeles National Forest, authorities on Sunday unearthed what they believe are the remains of a 73-year-old man missing for 17 months.

Investigators were led to the makeshift grave by Michael Benanti, 35, a Palmdale landscaper arrested last week in the murder of James Young.

After several hours of questioning, Benanti led homicide detectives to mile marker 6.79 on Lake Hughes Road in the national forest, and pointed out the spot where he said he buried Young, authorities said. The eccentric Quartz Hill resident had been missing since he left for a Las Vegas vacation in February, 1993, said Sheriff’s Detective Mike Scott.

“He decided there was too much on his conscience and he told us Mr. Young was dead and he buried him and he would take us to where he was,” Scott said.

Sheriff’s detectives, accompanied by a Los Angeles County coroner’s investigator and a forensic anthropologist, excavated the grave site and discovered the human remains about 11 Sunday morning, said Sheriff’s Deputy Gabe Ramirez.

A coroner’s autopsy is expected to be conducted later in the week to determine the cause of death, Ramirez said.

Benanti lived in Young’s Quartz Hill home for almost one year after the disappearance of the elderly man, who neighbors say was cantankerous and extremely protective of his possessions, which filled the back yard of his home.

Neighbors said there were motorcycles, a classic Porsche automobile and other valuable items which began to disappear after Benanti moved into the house.

Young met Benanti, who was paroled in 1986 from state prison on a rape conviction, when the younger man began working for a landscaping company at Young’s expensive home.

Within a short period of time, neighbors say, Benanti had become a fixture in the yard, regularly mowing the lawn and maintaining plants for Young, who was unable to perform heavy labor since suffering stroke in 1990.

Young had no close relatives, and only one sibling, a sister with whom he had not been in contact for 30 years, he told neighbors.

When he moved in, Benanti told neighbors that Young had met a Mexican woman in Las Vegas, fallen in love, moved to Mexico and left him to tend to his business affairs.

Authorities and neighbors were suspicious of Benanti’s story, and after waiting for almost a year, neighbors frustrated with the lack of progress signed a petition last December calling for the Sheriff’s Department to solve the case.

Scott said he and his partner, Detective Tom Harris, spent six months working only on Young’s case.

Friends and neighbors also expressed relief upon the discovery of the body because they had heard nothing for so long.

“I don’t think there was much doubt in people’s minds that he was dead,” said Pat Weese, a Quartz Hill contractor who worked at Young’s home. “I always thought they’d find him somewhere between here and Las Vegas.”

Investigators served search warrants Thursday at homes of Benanti’s friends and relatives in Canyon Country, Simi Valley, Chatsworth, Palmdale and Northridge and found jewelry, collectible coins and other personal items that belonged to Young, Scott said.

Investigators also identified forged checks on Young’s account for thousands of dollars and recovered several vehicles belonging to the victim, authorities said.

Benanti, who was arrested early Thursday at a mobile home park in Palmdale, will be arraigned today on murder charges in Antelope Valley Municipal Court, Ramirez said.