Aqueduct Searched for Gun Dead Screenwriter May Have Had in Car

Sheriff’s deputies Tuesday resumed searching the California Aqueduct where screenwriter Gary Devore’s car was found, looking for a gun he reportedly had with him when he disappeared.

The car, with Devore’s body still at the wheel, was found July 8 submerged in the concrete channel where its waters flow beneath the Antelope Valley Freeway. He had been missing since June 28, 1997, when he disappeared while driving to his Santa Barbara County home from Santa Fe, N.M.

Deputies are investigating several theories, including the possibility he had entered the wrong side of the freeway after a stop and had driven into the aqueduct, which is not shielded from wrong-way traffic where it flows under the freeway’s median strip.

Sheriff’s divers, under the direction of the CHP’s Multi-Disciplinary Accident Investigation Team (MAIT), which is responsible for the investigation, returned to the site Tuesday.

Among the items divers were seeking in the murky water was a handgun that Devore supposedly had with him, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman confirmed.

Devore, 55, who had screen credits for “The Dogs of War” and “Running Scared,” had a Colt .44 revolver with him in the car when he disappeared, his widow has said.

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CHP officials remained tight-lipped about Tuesday’s search, refusing to say if any items had been found that might shed light on how Devore’s Ford Explorer ended up in the waterway.

“From what I understand they were looking for any personal items that may have been in the vehicle that they didn’t find when they pulled it out,” CHP spokesman Tito Gomez said. “What they found, I don’t know.”

CHP officials said they were continuing to investigate Devore’s death as an accident.

Authorities found Devore’s body on a tip from Douglas Crawford, an unemployed lawyer from San Diego. Crawford said a newspaper article marking the anniversary of Devore’s disappearance reminded him of another case in which a vanished Orange County woman was later found to have crashed her car into the California Aqueduct.

Crawford set out to retrace Devore’s route. During a search of the spot where the Antelope Valley Freeway crosses over the aqueduct, Crawford said he found pieces of a white Ford Explorer, the make and model Devore was driving. He called Devore’s publicist, who then alerted Santa Barbara sheriff’s detectives.

CHP officials said they expect to complete their investigation within two weeks.