A car linked to a Christmas Eve double-killing at Westfield Mission Valley mall was found Friday afternoon in the city of Riverside with an unidentified body inside, according to police.
Investigators have been looking for the dark-green 2004 Toyota Camry with Utah license plates and the man believed to possibly be driving it, 24-year-old Gianni Leonardo Belvedere, since the Tierrasanta resident's younger brother and fiancee were found shot to death at the central San Diego shopping center.
Police have not named the missing man as a suspect in the killings of Salvatore Belvedere and Ilona Flint, both 22.
Early Friday afternoon, someone reported a foul odor emanating from the Camry, which was parked near a fast-food restaurant.
The man's identity and cause of death were not immediately clear, San Diego police homicide Lt. Mike Hastings said.
At about 1:15 a.m. Dec. 24, police found Flint and Salvatore Belvedere mortally wounded in a parked car near a Christmas tree lot at the Camino del Rio North mall, which was open late for last-minute holiday shoppers, according to homicide Lt. Mike Hastings. Both had been shot in the head.
Flint, who managed to make a 911 call despite her grave condition, died at the scene. Salvatore Belvedere succumbed to his wounds in a hospital several days later.
The last known sighting of the elder brother had been in Mission Valley about three hours prior to the shooting, authorities said. A relative has told reporters that the elder brother went to the mall with the victims on the night of the shooting, though police have disputed that claim.
The Belvedere family and San Diego County Crime Stoppers posted a combined $10,000 reward for information on the whereabouts of Gianni Belvedere, a former Utah native.
