Man to Face Murder, Grand Theft Charges in Death of Elderly Client : Crime: Michael Benanti led investigators to what are believed to be the buried remains of James Young, who had been missing since early 1993.

Michael Benanti of Palmdale will face charges of murder and grand theft in the death of 73-year-old James Young, whose remains investigators believe they found in a makeshift grave that Benanti led them to over the weekend.

Arraignment proceedings Monday were continued one week to allow a special public defender to represent Benanti, who is being held without bail.

The murder charge includes the special-circumstance allegation of killing for financial gain, which allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

Although the case is now considered a capital crime, it is undecided if the death penalty will be sought, said Sandy Gibbons, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Authorities Sunday unearthed human remains near mile marker 6.79 on Lake Hughes Road in the Angeles National Forest, after digging where Benanti said he had buried Young’s body. A coroner’s autopsy to determine the cause of death will be conducted later this week.

Young had been missing from his Quartz Hill home since he left for a Las Vegas vacation in February, 1993.

Benanti, who met Young when he began working for a landscaping company that mowed grass and watered plants for the elderly man, lived at Young’s home for nearly a year thereafter.

He told neighbors and investigators that Young had met a woman in Las Vegas and abandoned his possessions to move with her to Mexico. Benanti said he had been left to deal with the elderly man’s business affairs.

Benanti, 35, was arrested Thursday morning at a mobile home park in Palmdale.

Jewelry, collectible coins and other personal items belonging to Young were discovered when search warrants were served at the homes of Benanti’s friends and relatives in Chatsworth, Canyon Country, Northridge, Palmdale and Simi Valley, authorities said.

Neighbors reported that, while Benanti stayed at Young’s home, motorcycles, a classic Porsche automobile and other valuables on the property began to disappear.

Earlier this year, a group of 35 neighbors and friends of Young petitioned the Sheriff’s Department to renew its investigation into the disappearance.