Julian Sands: Here's everything we know about his mysterious disappearance in January

Julian Sands disappeared on 13 January while hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains, north of Los Angeles.

The British-born actor, 65 is best known for his roles in the Oscar-winning film A Room With A View, and the TV dramas 24 and Smallville. His other credits included 2011's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, in which he appeared opposite Daniel Craig.

The father of three, he most recently appeared in the drama Benediction, which also starred Peter Capaldi. Julian Sands was based in the North Hollywood neighbourhood of Los Angeles with his wife and children.

An extensive search,hampered by extreme weather conditions gave no result for months, and he hasn't been seen since. But last week hikers found human remains near the area where a British actor went missing and it has now been confirmed they are those of Julian Sands.

Here's what we know about his mysterious disappearance.

Julian Sands’ disappearance wasn’t treated as suspicious

Julian Sands and another hiker went missing in the mountains of southern California on 13 January. The disappearance was reported by his family.

It prompted an extensive search in the Mount Baldy Bowl area of the San Gabriel Mountains outside Los Angeles.

Officials from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said that severe weather conditions and bitter storms hampered their efforts.

Although Sands was said to be in good health at the time, the authorities warned that the ‘adverse and extremely dangerous’ weather with snow, wind and ice on Mount Baldy could challenge even more experienced hikers.

There were dozens of rescue missions reported in the area in December and January. After 14 attempts to rescue people who were lost, hurt and stranded, two died from injuries after falling, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said.

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Multiple search operations failed to find Sands

The search for the British actor and his companion was stopped and resumed several times throughout the last 6 months.

The remote terrain and dire weather conditions put the operation to a halt in January due to the hazardous state of trails and the risk of avalanches.

According to the Sheriff, they have conducted eight ground and air searches for Sands, with volunteer efforts ‘exceeding 500 hours’.

Eight unrelated rescue operations in the Mount Baldy area also failed to locate the actor, dead or alive.

But that has all changed...

Julian Sands' remains finally found after 6 months

On Saturday the San Bernardino County Sheriff revealed that unidentified human remains were discovered by hikers in the Mount Baldy Wilderness Area in California where Sands went missing.

On 27 June, San Fernando Sheriff's Department finally confirmed that those remains were indeed that of the missing actor. They said in a statement, as quoted by People:

The identification process for the body located on Mt. Baldy on June 24, 2023, has been completed and was positively identified as 65-year-old Julian Sands of North Hollywood. The manner of death is still under investigation, pending further test results.

There is still a lot that is unknown about how Julian Sands disappeared, as the 'manner of his death' is still being investigated by authorities.

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Sources used:

- ABC News: 'Remains found near hiking area where British actor Julian Sands went missing, sheriff says'

- ABC News: 'British actor Julian Sands, Hawthorne man reported missing in mountains near Los Angeles'

- BBC News: Julian Sands: British actor's car found in California search