Human Remains Discovered in Wilderness Area Near Where Actor Went Missing

Human remains have been found near Mount Baldy, California, in the vicinity where actor Julian Sands had gone missing. Sands had been missing since January. “Civilian hikers contacted the Fontana Sheriff’s Station after they discovered human remains in the Mt. Baldy wilderness,” the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release, according to CNN. Positive identification of the remains should be completed in the coming days, they said. Investigators pinged Sands’ phone to the general area where the remains were discovered, but could not narrow the search further.

Hikers stumbled onto human remains near where British actor Julian Sands went missing during a January hike on Mount Baldy. https://t.co/wqPg8OMgDa

— SFGATE (@SFGate) June 25, 2023

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said last Monday “despite the recent warmer weather, portions of the mountain remain inaccessible due to extreme alpine conditions,” and some areas were covered with “10 plus feet of ice and snow.” Search efforts, which had been suspended in January, were renewed on June 17, according to NBC. The family had thanked the searchers for their efforts. “We continue to hold Julian in our hearts with bright memories of him as a wonderful father, husband, explorer, lover of the natural world and the arts, and as an original and collaborative performer,” the family said in a statement. Sands, who has appeared in films including “A Room with a View” and “Arachnophobia,” was an avid mountaineer, according to the Los Angeles Times. In a 2020 interview, Sands told the Guardian he was happiest “close to a mountain summit on a glorious cold morning.”

Heartbroken to learn that #JulianSands remains may have been found on the CA mountain where he was last seen hiking in January. He was a wonderful actor and his George Emerson was perfection. pic.twitter.com/YBDO0W8bv0

— 🏳️‍🌈 PromisingYoungVermonter (@mwkogut) June 25, 2023

Topping his bucket list, he said at the time, was climbing “a remote peak in the high Himalayas, such as Makalu.” During the interview, he recalled that “in the early 90s, in the Andes,” he was “caught in an atrocious storm above 20,000 feet with three others. We were all in a very bad way. Some guys close to us perished; we were lucky.” In that interview, he philosophized about life, saying, “grab it with both hands, we know it is short.” In a 2013 interview, he told the Yorkshire Post, “And, you know what? Mountain climbing and filmmaking are very connected. There’s always another mountain. And ultimately the point of climbing a mountain is that the mountain is within. And I think that’s true, too, of the acting experience.” This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.