WESTWOOD—The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office revealed on Monday, July 3 that John Lenzie Creech, 44, a convicted drug dealer was found guilty of murdering former Fox executive, Gavin Smith, 57, whose remains were found in the Angeles National Forest on October 26, 2014, in a shallow grave.
Creech, a native of San Fernando Valley was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, and Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephen Marcus ordered the suspect to return for sentencing on September 19 in Department 102 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center. Deputy District Attorney Bobby Grace with the Major Crimes Division prosecuted the case.
Creech was serving an eight-year jail sentence after pleading no contest to one count of sale or transportation for sale of a controlled substance in September 2012.
Smith was last seen on May 1, 2012 leaving a friend’s home in Ventura County. According to a press release from the LADA’s Office, evidence presented at trial showed that Creech found his estranged wife with Smith at a park in the victim’s car. Creech brutally beat Smith, a former UCLA basketball player, while the defendant’s wife pleaded for him to stop, the prosecutor indicated.
Smith’s black Mercedes-Benz 420E was found a year later, on February 21, 2013, at a Simi Valley storage facility connected to Creech.
Creech faces a possible maximum sentence of 11 years in state prison. Case BA434207 was investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
