Man, 81, Found Dead After Disappearance

An elderly Laguna Hills man missing for more than a month was found dead in the rugged hills near Temecula on Saturday morning by Orange County and Riverside County sheriff’s deputies combing the area on horseback.

Clifford Swift, who was reported missing July 16, was found only a few miles from where his 1986 Mercury Grand Marquis was found in late July.

No foul play is suspected, authorities said. Swift’s wallet and jewelry were undisturbed.

Family members said that when he disappeared, Swift was headed to the Sears auto center in Laguna Hills to get his car battery replaced.

His daughters, Nancy Cole and Wendy Behr, distributed fliers alerting residents to his disappearance.

Cole and Swift’s wife, Jean, had joined sheriff’s deputies in Saturday’s search of the orange and avocado groves in the area where Clifford Swift might have wandered after abandoning his car.

Authorities said the intense heat--which climbed to 118 degrees in the area last week--more than likely contributed to his death. The precise cause of death will not be known until the coroner’s office conducts an autopsy.

Jean Swift believes her husband may have had a stroke on the way to Sears and lost track of where he was going. She said her husband was in very good physical condition and that nothing else would explain why he ended up in Temecula.

The couple had been married for 57 years and had lived in Southern California since 1952, Jean Swift said. Clifford Swift was to turn 82 on Sept. 2, she said.

“I wasn’t prepared for the parting,” said Jean Swift. “It’s a terrible tragedy the way it happened. It’s such a shock to me that he died now. I was supposed to die first because I have a terrible heart. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.”