Body Identified as Lemon Heights Lawyer’s

A man fatally shot in the head and found along a rural road in Riverside County on Thanksgiving Day has been identified as an Orange County lawyer reported missing by his wife, authorities said Sunday.

William Morrison Seiler, 50, of the Lemon Heights unincorporated area near Tustin, was reported missing Wednesday night by his wife, Peggy Seiler, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said.

“There will be no statement regarding Mr. Seiler’s passing,” said a man identifying himself as Dave Shannon at the Seiler home. “It would involve some things that would be detrimental to the investigation.”

Seiler was last seen driving his red Corvette in Tustin. Homicide investigators found the car in Orange on Thursday afternoon, Sheriff’s Lt. Harold Schaffroth said. The car was taken to the county crime lab for a forensic examination.

A group of off-road motorcyclists found the body about 11 a.m. Thursday on a dirt road in the hills near Lake Mathews Dam in the area of La Sierra, and reported it to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, Schaffroth said.

Shot Several Times in Head

Seiler--dressed in a gray suit coat and slacks, a white shirt and a tie--had been shot several times in the head, Riverside County sheriff’s officials said.

His body was identified Saturday from dental charts, Riverside County Deputy Coroner Mickey Worthington said.

An autopsy was being conducted by the Riverside County coroner’s office. Schaffroth said officers from both counties are investigating the slaying.

Authorities said Seiler, when last seen in Orange, had been on his way to an appearance at Harbor Municipal Court in Newport Beach, but he never arrived. Law enforcement officials on duty Sunday said they did not have details about the case in which the lawyer was to appear.

Authorities declined to comment on possible suspects or circumstances surrounding the investigation.

In his Santa Ana law practice, Seiler emphasized family and domestic, commercial transactions and business litigation, according to the 1985-86 Orange County Bar Assn. Pictorial Directory of Orange County Attorneys.

Times staff writer Mark Landsbaum contributed to this article.