A search and rescue helicopter crew found a Thousand Oaks man dead along the Potrero Ridge Open Space trail on March 17, three hours after his wife reported him missing, said Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Bruce Norris.

Juntao Hu, 50, left his home in Newbury Park at around 6:30 p.m. to ride his bicycle and take photographs on a trail near Churchill Drive off Lynn Road. When darkness fell and he didn’t return, his wife reported him missing at 8:51 p.m.

Search and rescue was called, and a helicopter with a spotlight shone its beam on hills behind the homes in the area until his body was spotted at 11:37 p.m.

“His body was found in an open area near the water tower,” Norris said.

An autopsy by the Ventura County medical examiner’s office the next day showed Hu had died of a heart attack, according to Senior Dep. Medical Examiner Craig Stevens.

“It was an unfortunate circumstance,” Norris said.

Norris also said officers would have been second-guessing themselves if they hadn’t immediately responded to the request from Hu’s wife to search for the missing man.

—Nancy Needham