OAXACA, Mexico – A California native who went missing in Mexico nearly two months ago was found dead over the weekend, the victim of an apparent homicide, a Mexican state official said Tuesday.

The body of Lane Gilbert of Marin County, California, was discovered Saturday in a lot behind a police station in Santa Maria Coyotepec, a town southwest of Oaxaca City, said the official with the attorney general's office in southern Oaxaca state.

Gilbert, 46, suffered multiple machete wounds, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case.

The officials said a suspect was arrested in the northern state of Baja California but a motive had not been determined.

Gilbert, a real estate developer, had been living in Mexico and had a home in San Andres Huayapan, a town just outside Oaxaca City, the official said.

A friend of Gilbert's family, Jenny Jedeikin, told the San Francisco Chronicle that Gilbert was last seen leaving his home Aug. 27.

Gilbert was a graduate of Sir Francis Drake High School in San Anselmo. His mother lives in Fairfax, California.