The search for missing 20th Century Fox distribution executive and former UCLA basketball player Gavin Smith intensified today, as the sheriff's department added new resources to the probe. "
The new development is that our department has added new resources to the search for this missing man,'' sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore told City News Service. "I am not going to detail exactly what those resources are, but part of it was adding more detectives to the search.''
Whitmore said detectives have not found any evidence of foul play in Smith's disappearance. Whitmore declined comment on what may have caused the Fox executive to vanish. Smith's family has set up a website -- findgavinsmith.com -- to help find him.
"Really what we are looking for is trying to get as many eyes out there looking for him,'' son Evan Smith said. The younger Smith, a forward on the USC basketball team, told Fox11 he has "been going crazy on Twitter. I really feel that network itself could really get as many people looking for my dad as possible.''
Gavin Smith's sister, Tara Addeo, distributed fliers in an effort to find her 57-year-old brother, who was last seen driving away from a friend's home in the 500 block of Kellwood Court in the Ventura County community of Oak Park between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. Tuesday.
Smith was driving a black 2000 Mercedes-Benz 420E with tinted windows and a roof rack, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The license on the car is 6EKT044.
"We've been looking down the canyons, ravines, little creeks, rivers, all over he place,'' Evan Smith told Fox11.
Smith had just returned from a motion picture industry trade show in Las Vegas before he went missing.
"He was over at ShoWest for Fox,'' Evan Smith told Fox11. All the execs went over there. He had a good time. He came back. He was completely fine. We knew something was up when he didn't pick up my little brother at school and he didn't show up to work that day.''
Smith lives in West Hills and works in Calabasas. He is white, about 6 feet 6, 210 pounds, with green eyes, gray hair with blond highlights, a goatee, a roughly 4-inch scar on his right inner wrist, and a 5-inch scar on one of his calves, according to the sheriff's statement.
Smith was a member of UCLA's 1975 national championship men's basketball team, the last title won by legendary Bruin coach John Wooden. Anyone with information on Smith's whereabouts is asked to contact Detective T. Abraham or Detective C. Carnes at (323) 890-5500, or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS. Anonymous tips can be submitted to http://lacrimestopers.org.
Larry Garrison The NewsBreaker