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# Missing man found dead in Malibu
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/missing-man-found-dead-in-malibu/
- Published: 2026-09-14T20:48:02.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T20:48:02.000Z
- Author: Matthew Hall
- Tags: Crime

A Los Angeles composer and choral singer who vanished after saying he was headed to a Santa Monica job interview has been found dead in the ocean off Malibu.

Braden Pontoli, 36, was last seen around 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8, near a WeWork co-working space in downtown Santa Monica, according to his partner, Tommy Lei, who reported him missing to the Santa Monica Police Department. Lei said Pontoli had gone there for an in-person interview and messaged that he had arrived safely, but was not heard from afterward — behavior friends described as out of character.

A missing-person flyer described Pontoli as 5-foot-11 and about 200 pounds, last seen in a blue button-up shirt and black pants, and asked the public to help locate his blue 2019 Nissan Kicks.

According to the LA County Fire Department, first responders were dispatched around 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 9, to the beach north of Malibu Lagoon near the pier after reports of a body in the water. The man, who was not wearing clothing, was pulled from the water and pronounced dead at the scene. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner identified him as Pontoli, listing the place of death as the beach and the cause as suicide by blunt trauma. 

His car was later found parked in a public garage in downtown Santa Monica, miles from the beach where his body was recovered.

Pontoli was raised in Beaver, Pennsylvania, earned a bachelor's in music education from Baldwin Wallace University and later a Master of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts. A baritone and bass, he had performed with the Los Angeles Master Chorale since November 2023 and appeared with the LA Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and he began directing choirs at Claremont United Methodist Church in 2025.