MALIBU – Authorities say they're now investigating the deaths of a Simi Valley couple found dead near their car at the bottom of a Malibu ravine last year as homicides.

Investigators initially believed Robert and Barbara Callender died in a traffic accident, but Los Angeles County sheriff's Detective Dameron Peyton said Friday that evidence found later prompted the homicide investigation.

Sixty-three-year-old Robert Callender and his 62-year-old wife were found dead near their car some 600 feet down the ravine on Sept. 7, 2007, about a month after they were reported missing.

Peyton declined to elaborate on the evidence that prompted the homicide investigation, but says the inquiry has been going on for over a year.

He says authorities will soon haul the Callender's Jeep Grand Cherokee from the ravine as part of the investigation.

Information from: Ventura County Star, venturacountystar.com