Screenwriter and producer for films and television. His credits include "The Dogs of War" (1980), "Back Roads" (1981), "Heart of Steel" (TV movie, 1983; also executive producer), "Raw Deal" (1986), "Running Scared" (1986), "Traxx" (1988; also producer) and "Pentathlon" (1994). On the night of June 27-28, 1997, he was driving in his 1997 Eddie Bauer Edition Ford Explorer, returning to his home in Carpinteria, Santa Barbara County, CA, after completing a screenwriting job in Santa Fe, NM. After calling his wife by cellphone about 1:15 am outside of Barstow, he was not heard from again. He remained missing for over a year. Subsequent intensive ground and air searches failed to turn anything up; a wanted poster, newspaper articles and an airing of a segment of "America's Most Wanted" tv show failed to produce any clues as to his disappearance. Over a year later--on July 8, 1998--research from an amateur sleuth who retraced Devore's last known route led authorities to his vehicle. The Explorer was found submerged in 12 to 15 feet of water in the California Aqueduct near Palmdale, with his body still behind the wheel, seatbelt on. Members of a California Highway Patrol investigation concluded that Devore, disoriented from a dozen hours on the road in the latter part of a 900-odd mile trip, was driving in the wrong direction on the Antelope Valley Freeway. The CHP theorized that Devore had stopped to rest, then entered a freeway offramp instead of an onramp. Driving about 70 mph, he cleared an unfenced embankment along the aqueduct, went airborne and plunged into the middle of the channel. Coroner's investigators were unable to determine a cause of death due to the body being in an advanced state of decomposition after being submerged for so long. His death was ruled accidental, with no indication of foul play. Gary Devore was survived by his wife, Wendy Oates-Devore; father, David Devore; sister, Judy Parrish; niece, Jennifer Kaplan; nephew, Brad Cohen and stepdaughter, Brittany Oates.