Suspect Leads Authorities to Buried Body

After a murder suspect showed them where to search along a road in the Angeles National Forest, authorities Sunday unearthed what they believe are the remains of a 73-year-old man missing for 18 months.

Investigators said they were led to the makeshift grave by Michael Benanti, 37, a Palmdale landscaper arrested last week in the murder of James Young.

Homicide detectives said that after several hours of questioning, Benanti led them along Lake Hughes Road in the national forest and pointed out the spot where he had buried Young. The Quartz Hill resident had been missing since he left for a Las Vegas vacation in February, 1993, said Sheriff’s Detective Mike Scott.

Benanti “decided there was too much on his conscience and he told us Mr. Young was dead and he buried him and he would take us to where he was,” Scott said.

A coroner’s autopsy is expected later this week to determine the cause of death, Scott said.

Benanti lived in Young’s house for a year after the older man disappeared, telling neighbors and authorities that Young had met a Mexican woman in Las Vegas, fallen in love, moved to Mexico and left him to tend to his business affairs.

Benanti is to be arraigned today.