Hiker who disappeared in San Diego found dead during heatwave

SAN DIEGO – The pilot of a search helicopter made a discovery that brought a tragic end to the nearly two-day mystery surrounding a 50-year-old woman who went missing from a group hike on Sunday morning during a heat wave in California.

At 9:15 a.m. on Monday, a police helicopter discovered a body just a quarter mile from an intersection.

“She almost made it,” Lieutenant Dan Meyer of the San Diego Police Department said at a press conference.

This concluded the search that had been ongoing since the morning with all hands on board.

Woman disappears after leaving group hike

According to police, Le Nguyen set out on a 5K charity run with about 100 other hikers on Sunday morning. According to FOX 5 San Diego, she even appeared on the group’s livestream from the mountaintop.

“We need your help in finding Diem Le Nguyen. Diem was hiking the Nighthawk Trail on Black Mountain,” reads the San Diego Police Department’s appeal for help on social media. “Due to the weather and difficulty of the trail, she is missing and in danger.”

The group stopped halfway up the mountain around 8 a.m., but other hikers said she continued on alone to finish the hike. She even contacted members of the group at 9:30 a.m. to let them know she had reached the end of the trail.

Around 10 a.m., Le Nguyen called her sister and said she was “extremely hot and needed water,” Meyer said. That was the last she was heard from.

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The weather was unbearable. The NWS had issued a heat advisory for the weekend because it was extremely hot and humid with no wind. The high was 91 degrees, but the heat index was 106.

“It’s extremely hot due to the heat advisory for this weekend,” San Diego Police Officer Darius Jamstjee told FOX 5 on Sunday. “Dehydration is a big factor in that. There’s not a lot of shade along the way, just a lot of low brush, so the heat gets to you very quickly. Add to that the elevation change of several hundred feet from here.”

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Other hikers commented on the heat in the social media post.

“I was hiking alone and it was hot! The draft is like opening an oven door,” commented @badbaddiechef. “Bring extra water and eat hydrating foods beforehand because anything can happen.”

An experienced hiker in the park said the trail is about 3 to 4 miles long and wide open.

“As long as you stay on the trail, you’re fine,” said hiker and volunteer searcher Roger Sunahara. “They (the trails) are pretty spacious and there aren’t many trees, so you can’t really get lost.”

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“But if you went the wrong way and you slip and trip on something while trying to get back, that’s always a possible scenario,” he added. “And in this heat, it’s been a while. I would imagine that’s dangerous.”

Police, sheriff’s search and rescue teams, search dogs, helicopters and drones found no trace of the woman on Sunday. The search continued on Monday morning.

The San Diego County Coroner’s Office will investigate the death and confirm the identity of the body.