LOS ANGELES -- Coroner's investigators, using dental record, Sunday positively identifed the body of a man found in a forest stream bed as missing variety show producer Roy Alexander Radin.
'Forensic Odontologist Gerald Vale and Betty Hoffman, D.D.S. have compared dental X-rays of Roy Radin with dental X-rays of John Doe number 94 and found them to be a positive match,' the Coroner's office said.
The dental records were flown in Sunday from New York following the discovery of the badly decomposed body which matched that of Radin in size and dress.
The body was found Friday by a forest ranger and a beekeeper in the Angeles National Forest near Gorman, 65 miles north of Los Angeles.
The dental records were flown in Sunday from New York following the discovery of the badly decomposed body which matched that of Radin in size and dress.
The body was found Friday by a forest ranger and a beekeeper in the Angeles National Forest near Gorman, 65 miles north of Los Angeles.
Radin, 33, disappeared May 13 while en route to a dinner meeting in Beverly Hills. He was reported missing four days later by his secretary, Johathan Lawson.
An autopsy done on the body -- which matches Radin's in sizeand weight -- indicated the man died of a single gunshot wound, Coroner's senior investigator Edward Day said.
The body was well-dressed, 6-1, and very heavy. Radin was listed at that height and 275 pounds in the missing person report.
John O'Grady, a Hollywood private investigator hired by Radin's mother to find the missing man, said he told the family 'there is a 99 percent chance the body is that of Mr. Radin.'
He said the family 'is in shock,' and was in seclusion in Cleveland.
The Radins are a wealthy Long Island family active in the theatrical and film industries. Radin lived in a 72-room oceanfront mansion in Southampton, Long Island.
O'Grady said Radin was in Los Angeles to find $35 million in backing for a new film studio and was 'reluctant' to go to the dinner meeting at the fashionable La Scala Restaurant with unidentified potential backers.
The detective said Radin postponed the meeting once in attempts to find a restaurant with tight security measures.
Radin was last seen leaving the Plaza Suite Hotel in Hollywood in a limousine with a woman not identified by police.
Radin never arrived at the restaurant. The woman told police they quarreled in the car and Radin got out on Sunset Blvd. and was not seen again.
The Radin family had offered a $1 million reward for Radin's safe return, but the reward was withdrawn two weeks ago, O'Grady said.
Another $100,000 had been offered by his family for the arrest and conviction of those responsible for his disappearance.
Radin gained notoriety three years ago when actress-model Melonie Haller, one of the 'Sweathogs' on the 'Welcome Back Kotter,' TV series, claimed she had been raped and beaten during a party at Radin's home.
Nine months later, Radin pleaded guilty to possession of an unlicensed pistol found at the mansion during the rape investigation and was placed on three years probation.
Robert McKeage IV, 45, a guest at the party, pleaded guilty to assaulting the actress and was given a 30-day jail term.
