The body of a woman believed to be of a 50-year old hiker has been found after she went missing while hiking in San Diego this weekend.
Diem Le Nguyen went missing on Sunday morning after she became separated from her 150-person hiking group while on the Nighthawk Trail in Black Mountain Open Space Park, located in the Rancho Peñasquitos area north of San Diego. The hike was organized by the Build a School Foundation to help build new schools in Southeast Asia.
A search helicopter spotted a body in the area Nguyen was hiking in, located a quarter-of-a-mile from a nearby street at 9:15 a.m. on Monday.
As reported on by ABC, police said Nguyen set out about 8 a.m. on the group hike. In a press conference on Monday, San Diego Police Department (SDPD) spokesperson Lt. Daniel Mayer said the group made it halfway up the mountain, before a majority decided to head back down because of the heat, with Nguyen getting separated and continuing to hike up the rest of the peak by her own.
At 10 a.m. on Sunday, Meyer said Nguyen made a distress call to relatives from the end of the trail, saying that “stating that she was very hot and needed water”. That was the last time anyone heard from Nguyen. Police responded at 11:30 a.m., and identified Nguyen as a missing person at risk, with the environment, heat index, and distress, being the reasons why. The search continued until the night, and picked up the next morning when Nguyen’s body was found.
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Friends and family members have been shocked by the news of Nguyen’s death.
William Do, a member of Nguyen’s family, said “It was really sad because losing someone is not easy. It’s just not today”, in an interview with NBC 7. “I still can’t believe it”. Do also told NBC 7 that he was searching for Nguyen on the trail on Monday morning, when she was found.
Nguyen was working for the U.S. Navy, and is survived by her three adult children. Do described her as “devoted to friends, family and causes”.
In a Facebook post, Build a School Foundation said that “With great sadness, we share with you the worst nightmare of someone who tried to make this world a better place, but suffered the tragic loss of one of us fellow Vietnamese Americans. Our hearts are saddened with Diem’s family and loved ones.”.
Jimmy Thai, the hike organizer and founders of the Build a School Foundation, told CBS8 that “I did a live stream and she was in the video and that is how we confirmed that she made it to the top and some of the frames show she started walking down by herself while we started hanging around to take a group picture,”. “This is the saddest moment in my life”, Thai continued. The video was recorded at 9:30 a.m.
SDPD have not reported a cause of death, and police couldn’t immediately identify if the body belonged to Nguyen, and are currently waiting on results from an autopsy. Police have said the search and rescue missions have switched to medical examinations, according to ABC News..
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