The body of a man found in Chantry Flats has been identified as Kevin Wolfe Pochter, 55, of Huntington Beach. A handgun was found nearby.
Several divisions of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department including Special Enforcement Bureau, Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station personnel and Montrose Search and Rescue, had been searching in the San Gabriel Mountains above Arcadia and Monrovia for Pochter. He was a murder suspect considered armed and dangerous.
The incident began around 5:40 p.m. Thursday evening when Sheriff’s Homicide detectives responded to the Chantry Flats Recreation Area regarding a shooting death investigation.
Investigators learned that a passerby discovered the victim, later identified as Dean Albert, 53, of Arcadia, lying on the side of Big Santa Anita Canyon Road, south of the Chantry Flats Recreation Area.
Deputies from Temple Sheriff’s Station were notified and responded to the location. The victim, who was suffering from a gunshot wound to the upper body, was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
On Friday homicide investigators sought the public’s help in locating the victim’s vehicle that was taken from the murder site. The vehicle was described as a silver, 1993 BMW 740 series, a 4-door sedan. The California license plate is 3XKB366.
At approximately 11 a.m. Saturday morning the victim’s car was located in the parking lot of the Mount Wilson Observatory, San Gabriel Mountains. Witnesses recognized the vehicle after seeing a description of the silver sedan in a local newspaper.
Deputies from Crescenta Valley Station responded to the parking lot and recovered the vehicle.
Deputies from Crescenta Valley, Temple, and San Dimas Sheriff’s Stations as well as officers from Arcadia, Sierra Madre, and Monrovia Police Departments spent the rest of the day searching for the suspect Pochter, who was wanted for the murder of Albert, in the area between the Mount Wilson Observatory and the Chantry Flats Recreational Area.
On Sunday morning team members from the Sheriff’s Special Enforcement and Emergency Services Details resumed a ground search for Pochter. An air search was being conducted by Air-Rescue 5. Deputies and search and rescue personnel from Crescenta Valley, Temple, and San Dimas Stations are monitoring the hiking trails and informing hikers about the continuing search for murder suspect who was considered armed and dangerous.
Pochter was an experienced hiker. On Monday a hiker in Chantry Flats reported seeing a man who he thought was sleeping. Deputies investigated and found Pochter.
He was pronounced dead at the scene from an apparent self-inflicted gun shot wound.

  May 05, News