Authorities may never determine how 20th Century Fox executive Gavin Smith, a former University of Hawaii basketball player, was killed or how his remains turned up in the desert outside Palmdale, Los Angeles County coroner’s officials said.

"It could be months, if ever, worst-case scenario," coroner’s Lt. David Smith said.

Sources told The LA Times that the hikers who came across the remains on Oct. 26 found a shallow grave, some bones and a skull.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced Wednesday that authorities had determined that the remains were those of Smith, 57. The Fox executive had not been seen since May 1, 2012. He was legally declared dead on May 1, 2014.

Smith transferred to UH from UCLA where he played on the 1975 NCAA championship basketball team. He played one season for the Rainbows in 1976-77 when he scored an average of 23.4 points a game for a team that went 9-18 under Larry Little. Smith’s single-season scoring average was a program record that still stands today. He scored 30 or more points five times at UH.

Former UH coach Riley Wallace was the coach at Centenary when he came to play Larry Little’s Rainbows twice in Honolulu on Feb. 18 and 19 of 1977. Smith and the ‘Bows won 104-79 and 92-73.

"Big-time scorer. Scored a lot of points," Wallace remembered. "He was one heck of a good shooter. He had the long hair, and he wore a bandanna. … He was a heck of an offensive player."

Smith was last seen leaving a female friend’s house in Ventura County. Numerous searches of the area were conducted after he disappeared, and his family posted a $20,000 reward.

In February 2013, following a tip, investigators found Smith’s car in a Simi Valley storage locker that authorities said was linked to James Creech, who had received an eight-year prison sentence for an unrelated drug conviction.

At the time, Sheriff’s Department officials said the condition of the vehicle and witness statements indicated that Smith had been killed. They said they had "a good idea" of a motive in the case, but they declined to discuss it.

Creech told a Times reporter at his sentencing that he had never met Smith, but deputies said there was some type of relationship between Smith and Creech’s wife, who met in rehab.

Sheriff’s Lt. Dave Dolson told The Times that the two knew each other, but he declined to comment on whether the relationship was romantic.

Creech, who was arrested by Glendale police in a drug bust, pleaded no contest in 2012 to one count of selling and transporting cocaine. He told police he was a middle man between drug producers and lower-level street dealers.

Authorities said they do not believe that Smith was involved with drugs.