Missing man David Allen Moore found de-ad in hard-to-spot vehicle off roadway along SR299

David Allen Moore, the man who was reported missing after failing to arrive home after leaving Eureka for Roseville, was found de*ad in a solo-vehicle crash on state Route 299 on Friday. He was last seen leaving Eureka on Dec. 13.

The California Highway Patrol-Trinity River office confirmed Moore was found after a report of a vehicle was spotted off the highway between Big Flat and Helena. When first responders arrived, they found Moore’s 2021 silver Toyota Camry “down a thick bramble-covered ravine,” a news release stated.

“Upon recovery of the vehicle, officers discovered a deceased party in the vehicle,” the release stated.

The release marked the incident as “suspicious circumstances,” but the CHP did not immediately respond to a request about why it was deemed suspicious.

The Trinity County Sheriff’s Office is assisting in the investigation with CHP-Trinity River and an autopsy of Moore is pending, Sheriff-Coroner Tim Saxon told the Times-Standard on Monday.

Saxon said the vehicle was likely hard to spot.

“They got the original call from a contractor who saw the vehicle. He was actually up off the highway and was able to spot it from a higher location, called it in, and the California Highway Patrol responded (and) saw the vehicle,” Saxon said. “They pulled the vehicle up off the highway, not realizing that there was actually somebody in the vehicle. Once they did get the vehicle up onto the highway, that’s when they recognized the fact that there was a victim inside, and then they notified us, and the sheriff’s office responded with regard to investigating the deceased individual.”

Both the Eureka Police Department and the Roseville Police Department were contacted for filing missing person reports. Roseville Lt. Chris Ciampa said the investigation was limited to the city of Roseville in checking locations where Moore was last seen.

Eureka Police did not provide clear details about its involvement in the investigation.

“We do have an ongoing investigation, but at this time I don’t have anything to report,” EPD spokesperson Laura Montagna said in an email.