Police have found a car belonging to the man who was found dead on West Vancouvers Hollyburn Ridge last week.
Investigators probing the suspicious death recovered the victims 1994 Pontiac Trans Am on Friday. They would not reveal where it had been found, however, saying that information was being held back to protect the investigation.
Trail workers discovered the remains of Vahid Mahanian, 35, in the forest just beyond Cypress Bowl Roads second lookout July 5. Mahanian, who has been associated with gang members in the past, had been missing since June 27, when he had lunch with two friends in Vancouver.
The cause of death is still under investigation, according to police, but they have deemed the circumstances suspicious.
Mahanian served four years in jail in the late 1990s for his part in a North Vancouver home invasion, and was injured in a shootout in Richmond in 2007 in which two other known gangsters were hurt. Family members have said he was turning his life around, however, and investigators have not characterized him as a gang member.
Anyone with information about Mahanians disappearance, or who saw anything suspicious along that stretch of Cypress Bowl Road in recent weeks, is asked to call West Vancouver police at 604-925-7300.
