Missing Saratoga Man's Body Found in Santa Cruz Mountains

A body found near Mt. Bache in the Summit Area of Santa Cruz County on Saturday belongs to Saratoga resident Eric Dean Garcia, 32, who disappeared Sept. 18 and was the subject of a missing person investigation.

The Santa Cruz Sheriff's Office said in a press release today that a hiker had contacted authorities to report the body on Saturday, which was removed by coroner detectives and transported to the Santa Cruz County Morgue facility.

An autopsy examination was performed and the death has been ruled a homicide, the release stated. No further details are available at this time about the nature of the death, authorities said.

The San Jose Police Department had reported Garcia, a.k.a. Pee-Ka, missing on Sept. 20. His motorcycle, described as a black 1985 Harley Davidson model FLT bearing California license plate 18W5272, was missing at the time and has not been located.

Santa Cruz sheriff's detectives are actively working the case and anyone with information about the incident should contact sheriff's investigations at 831-454-2311 or sheriff's dispatch at 831-471-1121.

On Oct. 2, Garcia's family and friends held a candlelight vigil at Sacred Heart Church in San Jose to mark his two-week disappearance, believed to have vanished Sept. 18.

Friends who were with him the night he disappeared told police he was last seen in downtown San Jose in the vicinity of Goodyear and Vine streets.

His family reported he was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, Levis, a black leather biker vest, black-and-white Vans shoes and was riding his motorcycle.

On Sept. 28, his family posted on his missing person Facebook page that they were checking with CHP officials, hospitals and jails daily in the hopes of finding him.

His missing-person flyer said he had a Harley-Davidson symbol tattoo on the back of his head. It also described him at being 5-foot-10 and weighing 350 pounds.