EXCLUSIVE: Investigators reveal why divers didn’t find Omar Meza

The body of 33-year-old business executive Omar Meza was found Thursday in a pond near the 18th tee of a golf course at the J.W. Marriott Desert Springs Resort in Palm Desert.

The day before, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department’s dive team stopped searching the waters on the property.

“People have to realize the property is 48 acres big and there are numerous bodies of water on the property,” said Lt. David Teets, who leads the Sheriff’s Media Information Bureau

The search was focused in the area where Meza’s personal items, his jacket and wallet, were found Friday.

Bloodhounds led investigators from that location to the pond indicated by the number “1” in the map (see video).

Six divers started their search there on Sunday, and by Wednesday, 13 divers had searched five ponds on the north side of the property.

The team even scoured through underground water pipes, which connected some of the ponds.

“The max depth they got was 15 feet,” said Lt. Mathieu Burden, who headed up the dive team. “They’re in complete darkness the entire time and the conditions were in the low 50s. The water temperature was in the low 50s.”

“When that was completed we stopped our dive team on that particular area but other searches continued,” Teets said.

The search ended shortly after 2 p.m. Thursday, when golfers finishing their round on the Palms course, spotted Meza’s body and contacted police.

Meza’s body was taken to the Riverside County Coroner’s Friday where an autopsy will be conducted, but ever since the search began investigators say there have been no indications of foul play.