A missing Japanese photographer who was found dead near San Diego apparently committed suicide, a police official said Tuesday.
A local resident spotted a body hanging from a tree by a rope in a wooded area in La Jolla in mid-September, and the body was identified Monday as that of Go Masuda, 29, from Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, by fingerprint comparison, according to the Medical Examiner's Office in San Diego.
Local investigators reached the conclusion that Masuda committed suicide because there was no apparent evidence of injuries and no signs of toxic substances in his system.
Although there was no suicide note left in the area, Masuda had indicated he did not want to go back to Japan, said the police official in the office's report.
Masuda was last heard from in early September when he called from an emergency phone booth alongside the freeway in Los Angeles, asking for help as he had run out of gas. His corpse was found some 150 km away from where the car, with his photographic possessions, was found.