SAN JOSE (KRON) — The body of a missing San Jose bike shop employee presumed dead by police has been found in Santa Cruz County Thursday afternoon, San Jose police said.
Police announced Thursday they found the body of 28-year-old Kyle Myrick near Jameson Creek Road. His body was found just after 4 p.m., according to Sgt. Enrique Garcia.
No other information was made available by police, but they said on Thursday “San Jose Police Homicide detectives received information regarding the possible whereabouts of homicide victim Kyle Myrick.”
A follow-up investigation revealed Myrick’s body may have been disposed of in the Jameson Creek area, police said.
A 39-year-old man who allegedly killed Myrick was arraigned Wednesday in Santa Clara County Superior Court. A judge arraigned Steve Douglas Hlebo for murdering 28-year-old Kyle Myrick, who was still missing at the time.
Hlebo remains in custody without bail and was scheduled for a plea hearing on Feb. 19.
Officers received a call of a suspicious circumstance at the vehicle shop GP Sports, located at 2020 Camden Ave. around 6:20 p.m. Friday, police said.
They learned an employee, Myrick, had been missing for several hours and allegedly assaulted at a neighboring building, where a severed ear was found in blood, according to a statement of facts on the case from police.
Investigators learned that earlier in the day around 1 p.m., an employee instructed Hlebo to assemble two all-terrain vehicles at a lot behind the shop, according to a statement of facts on the case from police.
The employee sent Myrick to the lot around 2 p.m. to help Hlebo and went out to check on them about an hour later, but the gate to the lot was locked, police said.
When Hlebo opened the gate for the employee, Myrick was nowhere to be found, according to police.
The employee asked Hlebo where Myrick was, but the 39-year-old said he had no idea, police said.
The employee went back to the shop’s service floor but returned to the lot around 5 p.m. to find the gate was locked again, according to police.
Once Hlebo unlocked the gate, the employee still couldn’t find Myrick and saw a GMC Sierra pickup truck that belonged to Hlebo parked at the back of a vacant building on store property, police said.
The employee later told officers that the vacant building hasn’t been used since a fire in 2014 and no one parked their cars at the rear of the lot, where merchandise was stored, according to police.
The employee and other workers looked for Myrick at the vacant building around 6 p.m., but Hlebo declined to enter the structure because he believed there were ghosts inside and left the store, police said.
In the empty building, two employees entered a storage room where they found fresh blood and notified police.
A human ear was found on the ground in a pool of blood and it appeared someone was dragged to where Hlebo parked his car, according to police.
Officers suspected Hlebo assaulted Myrick and took him away in the truck, police said.
Officers went to Hlebo’s Los Altos home on Los Ninos Way around 11:30 p.m., saw the suspect return shortly after 2 a.m. and arrested him, according to police.
Officers obtained a search warrant at Hlebo’s home and car, where they found blood in the truck’s cab, according to police.
The warrant also allowed officers to get a DNA sample from the suspect, police said.
In an interview with homicide detectives, Hlebo said he was in a physical fight with Myrick, police said.
The suspect told a family member he murdered Myrick and dumped the body in the ocean, according to police.
Stay with KRON for updates on this breaking news story.Bay City News contributed to this report