The 65-year-old man, an experienced hiker and avid mountaineer, disappeared in January during an expedition in California’s Mount San Antonio region.
Five months later, the mysterious and tragic disappearance could be solved. Human remains were discovered Saturday, June 24, by hikers in the Mount San Antonio region of California, near the area where British actor Julian Sands was reported missing, local authorities announced on Sunday.
They were taken to the coroner’s office for identification. The identification process is expected to take several days and could be completed next week. Julian Sands, 65 at the time of his disappearance, is best known for his role in the 1985 James Ivory film A Room with a View. He disappeared in January atop 10,000-foot Mount San Antonio, locally called Mount Baldy, just outside of Los Angeles.
A series of violent storms
Julian Sands was an experienced hiker and avid mountaineer who said he was happiest when he was “near the top of a mountain on a gloriously cold morning.” “Mountaineering and filmmaking are closely related,” he told the Yorkshire Post in 2013 during an expedition to the Swiss Alps. “There is always another mountain. And ultimately, mountaineering is about the mountain itself. And I think that goes for the actor’s experience as well.”
California had been hit by a series of severe storms in December and January, accompanied by heavy snowfall in mountain ranges including Mount San Antonio. The peak where Sands disappeared is the highest in the San Gabriel Range and a popular destination for Los Angeles residents.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff said at the time that the route was becoming increasingly dangerous and eight deaths were known between 2017 and 2022. The actor’s brother Nick said two weeks after the search began he accepted Julian Sands’ disappearance. “He has not yet been declared missing, he is believed to be dead but I know in my heart that he is gone,” he admitted, according to local English media from Yorkshire, where the two brothers grew up.