Man Found Dead in Car Off Panoramic Highway Was Indicted Developer With Ties to Failed Sonoma Valley Bank

The Marin County coroner's office has identified the man who was found dead Tuesday in a vehicle off of Shoreline Highway in Marin County as 58-year-old Bijan Madjlessi of Mill Valley.

Madjlessi was identified through fingerprints. He had been reported missing to the Marin County Sheriff's Office on Sunday, Assistant Chief Deputy Coroner Lt. Keith Boyd said.

An autopsy is scheduled for today.

Madjlessi, a real estate developer, was among four people who were indicted in March in federal court in San Francisco on loan fraud charges in a case involving the now-failed Sonoma Valley Bank.

[He was also focus of 2011 Petaluma Greenbriar Apartments investigation: Former Owner of Greenbriar Apartments Charged with Fraud.]
 
Madjlessi was arrested in Marin County and was released after posting $250,000 bond.

 The other defendants are attorney David Lonich, 59, of Santa Rosa, who worked for Madjlessi; former Sonoma Valley Bank president Sean Cutting, 44, of Sonoma; and former chief loan officer Brian Melland, 45, of Santa Rosa.

Madjlessi was found Tuesday in a vehicle 320 feet down the hillside of Shoreline Highway approximately one-quarter mile west of Panoramic Highway in Mill Valley, Boyd said.

The California Highway Patrol received a call around 1 p.m. about a vehicle off the west side of the road, CHP Officer Andrew Barclay said.

The vehicle was not immediately accessible on foot and Marin County Fire Department and Marin County Search and Rescue personnel used ropes and harnesses to scale down the side of the hill, where they found a deceased person inside, Barclay said.

Crews had to cut extensive vegetation growth with tools lowered to the site before the body or car could be recovered, Barclay said.

Shoreline Highway between Panoramic Highway and Stinson Beach was closed between 1 and 9 p.m. Tuesday, Barclay said.

--Bay City News