PERRIS — A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy whose body was found on a hillside near Corona died from a self-inflicted shotgun blast to the head, authorities confirmed Tuesday.

The remains of Zoltan Richard Tombol, 42, were located Oct. 20, about 350 yards south of Green River Road and the Riverside (91) Freeway.

The 19-year law enforcement veteran had been reported missing two days earlier by his wife, who became concerned when he didn't return home after a run in the Cleveland National Forest.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family,” said L.A. County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore. “The sheriff's department has lost one of our own, and we grieve along with his family.”

According to Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez, coroner's investigators confirmed Tombol's death was a suicide during an autopsy last week.

Results of toxicology tests, which could reveal whether the Yorba Linda man was under the influence of any kind of substance, are expected to be available in six to eight weeks, according to Gutierrez.

Tombol was reported missing by his wife about 6:30 p.m. Oct. 18 after he failed to pick up his son as planned, according to Whitmore.

A multi-agency search team of more than 100 people — some with bloodhounds, some on horseback — scoured a three-mile area bordering the Cleveland National Forest, with two helicopters scouting the slopes from above, he said.

Tombol, a former U.S. Army paratrooper who worked in the sheriff's Training Division, was an avid outdoorsman and hiker, according to Whitmore.

The deputy's gray Ford F-150 pickup truck was discovered Oct. 19 by Corona police at the end of a fire access road south of Green River Road.