SIMI VALLEY : Skull Identified as That of Missing Man

Investigators have determined that a skull found in a remote area outside Simi Valley last week is that of a Los Angeles man who has been missing since 1986 and was believed to have been murdered.

Ventura County Deputy Coroner Zelmira Isaac said dental records linked the remains to Christopher Landry, who now would be 27. Landry’s skull was found by a rancher walking in an area where other skeletal remains and personal effects were found two years ago.

Isaac said authorities believed then that the bones belonged to Landry, but they could not confirm the identification without the skull.

Both the earlier remains and the skull were found off Black Canyon Road in unincorporated land. The condition of the remains led forensic doctors to rule that the death was caused by “homicidal violence of undetermined type,” Isaac said.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Pat Buckley said the department would open up a homicide investigation in an attempt to find Landry’s killer, but said the time lapse would not aid their efforts.

“The success rate of these kinds of cases is not very high,” Buckley said. “But we will try and find the people who were with him last, who saw him last and talk to them . . .. We just try to trace his life backwards.”