LOS ANGELES » A convicted drug dealer was charged Thursday with the murder of a 20th Century Fox executive and former University of Hawaii basketball player who mysteriously disappeared more than two years ago and whose remains were found in a northern Los Angeles County desert in October.

John Lenzie Creech, 42, was charged Thursday with 57-year-old Gavin Smith’s death, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

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.

Smith was last seen leaving a female friend’s home in Ventura County’s Oak Park neighborhood on May 1, 2012. Hikers discovered the remains about 70 miles away, near Palmdale in the Antelope Valley, on Oct. 26, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

Smith was with Fox’s movie distribution department for nearly 18 years. He had three children.

Authorities said earlier they had found Smith’s Mercedes-Benz at a Simi Valley storage facility nine months after his disappearance. Its condition, along with witness statements, led them to believe Smith was killed.

Associated Press and Star-Advertiser staff