A Hollywood executive vanished while having an affair. Two years later, his body was found in a shallow grave
Two years after Gavin Smith went missing in 2012, his body was found in a shallow grave. In that time, investigators unraveled a shocking story of infidelity, jealousy, and murder. Andrea Cavallier reports
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Hollywood film executive Gavin Smith appeared to be living a charmed life with his picture-perfect family in California. But behind the scenes, it was a different story – and in a tragic plot twist, his seemingly fairytale life turned into a horror movie.
When the 57-year-old father of three went missing in 2012, he was living in Calabasas, a wealthy suburb of Los Angeles, and had been working for 20th Century Fox for 18 years.
Los Angeles may be known for sun, surf and celebrities, but Netflix’s 2024 true crime docuseries Homicide: Los Angeles exposes the sinister side of the City of Angels.
Smith’s case is featured in episode four, A Hollywood Affair, that explores what happened to the executive after he went missing on May 1, 2012.
What investigators discovered was a man who had developed a painkiller addiction from a back injury and was dealing with a struggling marriage after he had admitted to his family more than once of his extramarital affairs.
But even so, Smith’s wife Lisa said he was not one to just disappear. Investigators had their theories. Did his wife hire someone to kill him as revenge for the affairs? Did he take his own life? Or did he run off with a mistress? Or did he just want some time to himself?
Investigators soon learned that on the evening of his disappearance, Smith had secretly met up with a woman he had previously had an affair with, Chandrika Cade.
So they zeroed in on Cade and their relationship. Cade’s husband, convicted drug dealer John Creech, then entered the picture and within months, investigators made a break in the case.
But it would be two more years before Smith’s slain body was found buried in a shallow grave of a California desert.
A missing executive
On May 2, 2012, Smith failed to pick up his son from school and never showed up for work, sending up red flags to those who knew him best.
Smith’s sister Tara Smith Addeo said on the docuseries that she found out her brother could possibly be missing when his wife Lisa called her that day to see if she had heard from him.
“It was highly irregular that somebody like him would just not show up for work, or not show up to pick up their child, or just vanish in thin air,” Addeo said. “Never ever would I be able to dream that something like this would happen.”
LASD Homicide Detective Ty Labbe said it was Lisa who told them about Smith’s extramarital affairs and that he had been staying with a co-worker after she caught him cheating twice. The co-worker said he left around 10 p.m. in his black Mercedes-Benz.
Smith’s phone became a key piece of the puzzle.
On the night he went missing, he had called Lisa, his three boys, his sister, and Cade.
“We knew she was the last person to talk to him,” Labbe said. “What we needed to find out was, who is this chick?”
Smith had met Cade at a rehab facility in 2008. Smith was at the facility after getting addicted to painkillers for his back injury.
Investigators say the two carried on an affair until Smith allegedly ended it in 2010. But after her name showed up in his phone records on the night he went missing, they knew they had to interview her.
Cade, who was emotional during the interview, told investigators that she did not know what happened to Smith after their contact on May 1, 2012.
‘A duck’s a duck’
While investigators were at the house, Cade’s husband Creech, an ex-convict out on a release system, drove up, spotted police and abruptly left.
Creech, who had connections to narcotics, was someone police wanted to interview, Labbe said, noting his criminal background and the idea that he might be “pissed that his wife had an affair with this guy.”
“Say what you will. A duck’s a duck,” Labbe said.
“If I see a duck, and it looks like a duck, walks, talks like a duck, I don’t know, it might be a f—--- duck. Yeah, we looked at him pretty hard right away.”
Police were able to determine that on the night of May 1, Smith and Cade’s phones were pinged near the Creech residence in a “lover’s lane” area. Creech’s phone ping quickly joined them.
“At that time, we pretty much knew that something bad had happened,” Labbe said. “This is a murder.”
In June 2012, authorities searched the couple’s home, seizing items like cell phones and computers, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The same year, Creech was named a person of interest in the case. At the time, he was serving an eight-year sentence at the L.A. County Men’s Central Jail on drug charges.
In February 2013, Smith’s Mercedes-Benz was found in a storage facility in Simi Valley, California. The car was found as Creech was being investigated for a drug bust.
“The condition of the vehicle in conjunction with cooperating witness statements indicates he was killed,” Lt. Dave Dolson said in a press conference.
“At this time, the evidence leads us to believe he was murdered.”
Hikers find Gavin Smith’s remains in shallow grave
In May 2014, Smith was officially declared dead.
The judge who issued the death certificate dated it May 1, 2012, the night he went missing.
“He died on the night of his disappearance,” investigators said in a statement at the time.
“He was a striking individual, tall, fit and, I think the idea of a person that goes missing out of nowhere is intriguing and tragic.”
Months later, on October 26, 2014, hikers stumbled upon Smith’s remains in a shallow desert grave in the Angeles National Forest.
It was about 70 miles away from where he was last seen.
The trial
In January 2015, the district attorney filed murder charges against Creech and he was indicted by a grand jury a few months later.
Creech’s trial began in 2017, with prosecutors describing Smith’s murder as “an act of almost stunning brutality — almost indescribable violence.”
Meanwhile, Creech’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Irene Nuñez, called her client’s actions self-defense.
Cade’s testimony revealed that she had met up with Smith on the night she disappeared. Her husband, Creech, tracked her location and followed them, sneaking up behind them and began to beat Smith.
Cade pleaded with Creech to stop before fleeing in her car. Creech continued to bludgeon Smith to death. The county coroner testified at the trial that Smith’s skull had been crushed on both sides.
Creech then stored Smith’s Mercedes-Benz in a friend’s garage for a short time before moving it to the storage unit. He traveled out into the desert where he buried Smith’s body.
Creech was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter. He was later sentenced to 11 years in prison. Cade was not charged in exchange for her testimony.
‘I was the love of Gavin’s life – he just got lost’
When Smith’s family received news that his remains had been found, their worst suspicions had been confirmed, but his wife told the Los Angeles Times that she was relieved to know that Smith had not purposely abandoned the family.
“My sons and I are devastated and this has been the hardest 10 and a half months of our life — being without him. We love him dearly. He’s the love of my life and the father of my children and he is gone. It’s a tragedy,” Lisa said.
“For the rest of the world to know that he didn’t leave us is huge. He would have never done that. We knew from the get-go that something horrible had happened because he just wouldn’t do this.”
Smith, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, was a star basketball player in high school and at UCLA. He worked as a stuntman before he broke his back, but his dream was to be an actor. He appeared in small roles in films, including Glitz, but mainly worked as a waiter, which is how he met his wife Lisa.
The couple married and had three sons, Evan, Austin and Dylan.
Smith later landed at 20th Century Fox’s distribution department, where he helped distribute movies including Avatar and the original Star Wars trilogy.
“He just loved being in the movie industry,” said his sister Tara, who described her brother as someone who was “larger than life” with a smile that “went on for days.”
In a 2017 interview with Dateline, his wife Lisa said: “I was the love of Gavin’s life. He adored me. Our family was exactly what he wanted to have.
“He just got lost.”