The body of Rev. Charles Lanier, 51, who was last seen when he went shopping on Feb. 15, was found Feb. 27 in Tijuana, dead from an apparent drug overdose.

Authorities with the San Diego Police Department said they have confirmed reports with the Mexican State Judicial Police that Lanier’s body was found in a Tijuana apartment Wednesday morning.

According to officials the clergyman had rented the apartment with another man, also a U.S. citizen, in an area of Tijuana known as the red-light district located about a mile from the border.

The Tijuana State Police Department said there were no signs of trauma to Lanier’s body and his remains were taken to the Tijuana morgue, according to local officials.

An autopsy conducted by the Baja California Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Lanier died from a heroine overdose, confirming what investigators who found paraphernalia in the room already believed.

Lanier, who was gay, was the pastor at the Unity Fellowship Church on University Avenue in City Heights. He was last seen or heard from leaving his University Heights home to go to a nearby grocery store to prepare for a church function he had planned.

Friends and family became concerned when Lanier failed to show up to the event, and was not at church the next day to deliver his regular Sunday sermon. His car was found in a San Ysidro parking lot on Feb. 21. San Diego police said an attendant at the lot called to have the car towed, and that the towing company reported the car to the police.

Lanier’s family could not be reached for comment regarding the clergyman’s death, but reports on The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Web site said that while the family is devastated by the news, they are somewhat grateful for the closure.

Anybody with more information about the death of Lanier is asked to call the police at 619-929-9242 or 619-531-2000.