By LILA SEIDMAN | Reporter
A63-year-old Caucasian man, Jon Dane, was found hanging by the neck from a tree around 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 20 near Sullivan Fire Road at the top of the Riviera in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Dane’s death has been ruled a suicide, said LA County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter.
“There was no indication of foul play,” Los Angeles Police Department Senior Lead Officer Michael Moore confirmed.
Coroner Investigator Jerry McKibben noted that the body was decomposed enough to hinder immediate identification.
LAPD said the man is connected to a Hawthorne address, but the coroner had no city of residence on file.
Private security firm SSA sent out an email on the afternoon of Sept. 20 alerting the public that a dead body had been found in the canyon.
Three female hikers called an SSA officer around 12:35 p.m. from the west end of Casale Road to report a possible deceased male adult off of Sullivan Fire Road, about a mile from the yellow gate at the entrance of the trail.
The hikers escorted the officer to the location, and he verified a deceased adult male was present, SSA’s email stated.
The SSA officer contacted the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Fire Department and guided them to the location of the deceased male.
SSA CEO and President Jerry Shaw told the Palisadian-Post that this is the first body his officers have found in the canyon.
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