Cops Search Desert for Body of Businessman

More than 100 people combed the rugged back country of eastern San Diego County on Saturday, looking for evidence in the bizarre murder of a Laguna Beach man, according to news reports.

The search, near the tiny town of Boulevard some 45 miles east of San Diego, was the latest turn in the , the former business partner of Christopher Ryan Smith, who lived in Laguna and worked in San Juan Capistrano.

Rugged, granite-boulder-strewn mountains and canyons were searched by deputies and personnel from the San Diego and Orange county sheriff's departments, the U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to reports by Channel 10 News and City News Service.

Searchers found items that might help the case, Orange County Sheriff's Lt. Chris Collier told the San Diego Union-Tribune. Collier declined to identify what those items were and said he did not know if human remains were found.

According to investigators, Smith disappeared in 2010 but sent his family emails from a supposed adventure to South Africa. Detectives believe those emails were fake and confronted Younghoon Shin, Smith's business partner, who confessed to the crime but never gave clues to where he disposed of the body.

Shin and an were arrested in August. Shin and Smith were partners in a San Juan Capistrano internet advertising venture.

Saturday's search wrapped up about 4 p.m. Saturday, and was centered on an area near the Mexican border and east of Tecate.