By Khalida Sarwari
Santa Cruz County sheriff’s deputies this afternoon found a man’s body at Big Basin Redwoods State Park, where two days ago park rangers found a Kia station wagon belonging to a missing Pennsylvania man.
The body was found in the area of Berry Creek Falls at the park at about 1 p.m., sheriff’s Sgt. Dan Campos said.
The body had a single gunshot wound, and a firearm was recovered nearby, he said.
Authorities have yet to identify the body, but the site where the man was found is in an area where a search team was focusing their efforts this morning to look for Jonathan Frank, a 57-year-old resident of Pennsylvania.
On Tuesday afternoon, park rangers found a black Kia that had been parked in a day-use area of the park since Saturday and which detectives later traced to Frank.
Deputies found ammunition inside the car and discovered that Frank had a gun registered to him in Pennsylvania that he had purchased this year, Campos said.
Frank’s wife, Judy, from whom he was separated, told detectives he had been “despondent” over losing his business, Campos said.
A search team comprised of about 35 people, including deputies, began looking for Frank on Wednesday.