A nearly weeklong search for an employee of a Cambrian-area motorbike shop ended Thursday when his body was discovered deep in the Santa Cruz Mountains, police said.

Kyle Myrick, 28, of San Jose, was reported missing Jan. 22. A day later, his coworker, Steve Douglas Hlebo, 39, of Los Altos, was arrested on suspicion of murder.

Police said they were tipped off that Myrick's body might have been dumped in the Jamison Creek Road area in Santa Cruz County. Around 4 p.m., homicide detectives and crime scene investigators found a body, which the Santa Clara County Coroner's Office identified as Myrick.

The discovery brought some closure to Myrick's mother, Kelly Sparry, who said she was holding out hope her son would be found alive. The family has been searching for Myrick since Saturday.


"I'm just glad that police were able to find Kyle," Sparry said Thursday night at a candlelight vigil near GP Sports, where Myrick worked with Hlebo only a few days before he disappeared.

Clad in her son's Westmont High School hockey jersey, Sparry said she was wearing the garment for good luck.

"I still had this shred of hope," she said. "But at least we have him, and we can stop searching. The monster is behind bars, and I guess the process begins. I'm glad somebody like that is off the streets."

In a jailhouse interview earlier this week, Hlebo denied any involvement in Myrick's disappearance. He was arraigned on murder charges Wednesday.

According to a police, Myrick and Hlebo got into a fight while they were working on all-terrain vehicles.