The body of a 58-year-old man was found inside a Mormon church in Simi Valley on Wednesday morning.

The Ventura County Medical Examiner-Coroner's office later identified the man as Walter Madrid, a Simi Valley resident.

A custodian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 480 Sinaloa Road discovered Madrid lying on the floor at 7:30 a.m. and then notified law enforcement, according to Lt. Paul Fitzpatrick of the Simi Valley Police Department.

At first officers treated the incident as a possible homicide but found that not to be the case after entering the building.

"We treated it as a possible suspicious incident until we were able to determine that there was no evidence of any crime," Fitzpatrick said.

Shasta Gainer, deputy medical examiner with the coroner's office, said an autopsy completed Thursday confirmed Madrid died of natural causes.

"It was a natural death," she said. "I don't have a finalized cause right now. . . . There was no evidence of foul play."

Cherie Whitaker, a member of the LDS church and a close friend of Madrid's, said Madrid was alone setting up chairs for an upcoming Boy Scout roundtable when he apparently suffered some type of medical emergency.

"He ran to the phone to call somebody, but he just didn't make it," said Whitaker, fighting tears.

"I loved Walt with all my heart, and the loss felt in this community is going to be major," she said.

Madrid, who worked as a field representative for the Department of Commerce Census Bureau, had given years of service to the LDS church and to the youth of Simi Valley, especially Boy Scouts, Whitaker said.

A veteran of the U.S. Army who served three tours in the Vietnam War, Madrid was an integral part of the church's annual Salute to Arms.

"(Walt) would always eulogize the boys who didn't make it back (from Vietnam)," Whitaker said.

Whitaker said Madrid appeared in "great health" and had just completed a camping retreat the previous weekend.

"This is so unexpected," she said. "None of us can believe this is actually happening."

Madrid is survived by three children.

—Carissa Marsh, Kyle Jorrey