SYLMAR (CBS) — Family members of a missing Fox executive are expected to canvass a large area of Sylmar on Sunday after reportedly receiving new information from investigators.
The search party for Gavin Smith met Sunday morning in the parking lot of the Denny’s restaurant on Encinitas Avenue and planned to hand out fliers in the area. He has been missing for 68 days, KNX 1070′s Ed Mertz reported.
“We’re hoping to get information in this very area to lead us to some tips to find Gavin,” Lisa Smith, Gavin’s wife, told CBS2′s Bobby Kaple.
“We’ve been working closely with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and our detectives. We wanted to find out what we could do hands-on. And obviously we can’t search for Gavin but they told us that we could put posters up. They directed us to a good area and this is it. And we’re gonna branch out. We’re gonna have a team and we’re gonna try and get some information,” she said.
Tara Addeo, Smith’s sister, confirmed to Kaple that police investigators told them the last Ping from Smith’s phone came from the area.
“I’m not sure which tower it was. There are several here but the police have led us specifically to this area. We’re going to canvass this area really hard this morning,” she said.
The 57-year-old former UCLA basketball player was last seen leaving a friend’s house in Oak Park on the evening of May 1 in his black 2000 Mercedes E 420.
Smith is described as 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighs about 210 pounds. He has gray hair with blond highlights, a goatee and green eyes.
A report on E! online said he had been romantically linked to a married woman whose Canoga Park home had been searched. According to that report, Chandrika Creech’s husband, John, found out about the alleged relationship and told his wife to stop it.
When asked about the allegations, Gavin’s wife told Kaple, “I have no comment. I want to find my husband. They’re looking for their dad and everything else is not important,” she said. “We’re on a mission here. We want to find him. Find his car. Find out what happened.”
Smith’s family has offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to his whereabouts and return.
