News - Local - North Coast

Tuesday, Jul. 29, 2008

Hiker found dead Sunday was part of longtime Morro Bay family

Lance Leage vanished at a campground near Atascadero; his dad, businessman George Leage, is running for mayor

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Sheriff’s detectives have tentatively identified the body found Sunday afternoon in the Cerro Alto Campground near Atascadero as that of missing Morro Bay hiker Lance Erik Leage.

Leage, 42, had gone hiking on a steep trail Saturday afternoon and was reported missing by a companion after he was seen running down the trail, according to the county Sheriff’s Department.

A relative found the body Sunday, the second day of the search by volunteers and authorities from three counties.

An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday, and toxicology results will be available in about three weeks, sheriff’s spokesman Rob Bryn said.

Leage’s family has deep roots in Morro Bay.

His father, George Leage, is challenging incumbent Mayor Janice Peters in the November election. He received 36 percent of votes cast in the June primary, more than any other candidate but not enough to win outright.

A businessman for more than 50 years, George Leage co-owns the Great American Fish Co. and Harbor Hut restaurants with some of his children.

George Leage declined to comment about the incident Sunday. Calls to Lance Leage’s brother, Troy, an agent at Bayshore Realty in Morro Bay, were not returned.

Troy Leage and his wife own Lil Hut restaurant, part of the chain of family-owned businesses, according to Dan Reddell, owner of Bayshore Realty.

Lance Leage had been hiking with a friend about 1:30 p. m. Saturday afternoon near the Cerro Alto Campground near Highway 41.

He was wearing a T-shirt, board shorts, flip-flops and sunglasses when the two became separated on a trail, sheriff’s officials said.

The friend found Lance Leage’s shirt with blood on it. Detectives found at least one of the man’s flip-flops near a ravine.

The friend told authorities Saturday night that the two became separated and that he last saw Lance Leage at 1:30 p. m. Saturday near the campground.

Bryn said Sunday that investigators don’t consider the death suspicious.

He said the theory they are examining is that Lance Leage was running down the trail and went over the side of the ravine for unknown reasons.

Bryn said the friend hiking with Lance Leage was from Orange County and may have been a friend of one of his brothers.

He and the friend were planning to attend the Stone Temple Pilots concert at the California Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles on Saturday night, Bryn said.

The friend has already returned to Orange County, Bryn added.