Body found on Mount Tamalpais is Veronica Ruiz,
suicide suspected

By James Lanaras

January 16, 2008

The Marin County coroner's office said yesterday the body of a female found on Mount Tamalpais Sunday afternoon is Veronica Ruiz and that she apparently shot herself in the head on Dec. 3, the day she disappeared.

The coroner's office said it relied on dental records to confirm the identification. Ruiz, 25, of Mill Valley, had been missing since Dec. 3 and she was reportedly despondent about a recent breakup with her boyfriend.

The coroner's office said the Internal Revenue Service agent's service weapon was found at her side and her U.S. Treasury Department photo identification was found in her purse at the place of her death.

Ruiz's body was found in a very secluded area protected from nearby biking trails by dense brush and a fallen tree. The Marin County Sheriff Office's search and rescue team found the body during a training exercise Sunday around 1:30 p.m. near the Slide Gulch Ravine below the Hoo Koo E Koo fire road and several hundred feet off the Corte Madera Trail.

Funeral arrangements are pending and will be announced later by the Ruiz family, the coroner's office said.

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