Missing Sheriff's Deputy Found Dead

Corona (myFOXla.com) - An autopsy is scheduled this morning on the body of a 42-year-old Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy found dead on a hillside in Riverside County.

Zoltan Richard Tombol of Yorba Linda was reported missing Sunday after he went for a run in the Cleveland National Forest outside Corona.

Searchers found Tombol's body about 2:20 p.m. Tuesday, said Brea police Sgt. Bill Smyser. Brea police led the search for Tombol because they patrol Yorba Linda.

The body was about 350 yards southwest of Green River Road and the Riverside (91) Freeway in Corona, according to the Riverside County coroner.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department launched a death investigation, and an autopsy will be performed by its Coroner's Bureau in Perris this morning, said Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez, a department spokesman.

Determining the cause of death may depend on toxicology tests, which could take six to eight weeks, he said.

Tombol was reported missing by his wife about 6:30 p.m. Sunday after he failed to pick up his son as planned, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore.

A multi-agency search team of more than 100 people -- some with bloodhounds, some on horseback -- scoured a three-mile area bordering the Cleveland National Forest, with two helicopters scouting the slopes from above, Whitmore said.

Tombol, a 19-year law-enforcement veteran and former member of the U.S. Army's elite 82nd Airborne Division, was an avid outdoorsman and hiker who was in great shape, he said.

Tombol, reported to be 6 feet tall and 205 pounds, worked in the sheriff's Training Division.

"He handled use-of-force training," Deputy Jeff Gordon of the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau in Monterey Park said this morning. "He trained deputies in new force techniques, new weapons and defensive tactics."

No foul play was suspected in the disappearance, Smyser said before the body was found.

Tombol's gray Ford F-150 pickup truck was discovered Monday by Corona police at the end of a fire access road south of Green River Road and the 91 freeway, Smyser said.

"This is all under investigation, and all of this will be looked at from top to bottom," Whitmore said. "It's a sad day for the L.A. County Sheriff's Department. We've lost a 19-year veteran, a valued member of our family."