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Body of Missing Woman Found

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Times Staff Writer

A Lake Forest woman missing for four days after she went for a walk was discovered dead Friday afternoon, officials said.

The body of Susan Hobbs, 51, was found by search teams off the Vista Trail at O’Neill Regional Park in Rancho Santa Margarita, said Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino.

She was found clothed, lying face-down under heavy bush a day after her car had been located by rangers at the park, authorities said.

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The cause of her death was not immediately available.

Hobbs did not come home Monday after she took a walk at O’Neill Regional Park, prompting her husband to file a missing-persons report when he came home from work.

A botanist and avid hiker, she was distraught because she had not received a job offer she hoped for, Amormino said.

A park ranger discovered her 1997 Ford Expedition about noon Thursday and called deputies, who sent out a search crew, according to Amormino.

The woman’s friends canvassed the park with search crews again Friday.

Her body was discovered by helicopter search crews about 4:45 p.m., Amormino said.

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