Guillermo Pino, Missing Anza-Borrego Hiker, Found Dead in 60-Foot Crevice; L.A. Sheriff's Detail Helps Pull Him Out

By Simone Wilson Wed., May 9 2012 at 10:45 AM

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Pino was stuck at the bottom of Hidden Cave for an entire month.

After a long, frantic month of combing hundreds of caves throughout Anza-Borrego Desert State Park for any signs of missing UC San Diego graduate Guillermo Pino, Jr., 25, he was discovered dead last Saturday at the bottom of a 60-foot crevice.

Pino had gone hiking on Easter Sunday with a group of friends. They last saw him in the park's storied Arroyo Tapiado mud caves, according to the Facebook page "Find Guillermo Pino Jr." And it was in the deepest of those caves, a dark and winding crevice known as "Hidden Cave"...

... that he was reportedly discovered Saturday around 5 p.m.

According to CBS LA, private investigator Bill Garcia "lowered a special camera" into the crevice until it happened to hit the victim's body. Garcia tells the station:

"The camera came to rest at the bottom on his right shoulder, and as the camera was pulled back, you were able to see him from his waist up to above his head. ... It appears that he fell feet first, at one point he either hit bottom or his shoulders were broad enough to actually hold him in a particular position, and then the debris that was knocked down around him actually filled up to about his waist."

Indeed, Pino's friends originally told investigators that Pino was standing atop a cliff, asking them to bring him a pair of shoes, the last time they saw him.

One of the women who was with him recalled his fateful ascent:

"Jr decided to go ahead of us and barefoot, with no flashlight, he managed to get through the pitch black cave until we reached him at the point within the cave of climbing a rope up about 10-15 feet above us to get to a vertical shaft we would have to free climb with help from a rope from up top the mountain. Needless to say I couldn't do it, and my best friend and I walked back to camp through the cave, the same way we came in. By then the boys had already climbed to the top of the mountain, and came down the side of it. Guillermo was still up above us when we came back through the caves entrance. Around noon, on Sunday, we began calling out to him to come down the same side the boys had come down earlier, but he insisted on resting his feet. 20mins go by and we begin calling to him again only to get no response."

Assisted by agencies ranging from U.S. Customs and Border Patro to the Sycuan Fire Department, the San Diego Sheriff's Department led search efforts until about mid-April. At that point, however, they declared the rough Anza-Borrego terrain too much of a hassle to navigate, reports Sierra Madre Patch. But friends, family and concerned volunteers didn't give up hope, and kept searching for Pino with the help of private investigator Garcia.

parksguide.com

The Anza-Borrego mud caves.

When the missing young man was finally located on Saturday, a new challenge arose: How to "respectfully" pull him the depths of an unstable, pencil-thin crevice carved in the Anza-Borrego mudlands.

Along with various other emergency-service agencies, eight members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Emergency Services Detail were sent in to pull out Pino, says Lieutenant Jack Ewell.

According to Ewell, the L.A. search-and-rescuers were requested due to their extensive "training in cave rescue."

We've contacted the San Diego Sheriff's Department for more details on exactly how Pino was pulled from the bottom of Hidden Cave. But it had to be a tricky operation, judging by the stories that hikers have shared about that particular crevice.

Here's one that Eric Su posted to the "Find Guillermo Pino Jr." Facebook page. And here's a recent video of some explorers with headlamps, navigating the less clogged parts of Hidden Cave:

Pino graduated from UCSD in 2009 with a degree in psychology, according to his Facebook page. His loved ones have described him as an adventurous, life-loving guy. The last words his friends heard him say: "It's so beautiful up here."

[@simone_electra / swilson@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

Tags:

Anza-Borrego, Guillermo Pino Jr., search and rescue

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Update

Body Recovered from Anza-Borrego Cave by special LASD Mine Rescue Team

(News Release) Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department - Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau: May 9, 2012

The California State Parks Service and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department requested via mutual aid for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue (SAR) - Underground Unit to assist with the recovery of a human body in the Mud Caves of the Anza-Borrego wilderness area, in eastern San Diego County.

The body was located on Saturday, May 5, when members of a family of a missing male hiker were searching the area and lowered a camera into an inaccessible, nine-inch fissure inside the "Hidden Cave."

Efforts made on Monday, May 7, 2012, by the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department Cave Team to recover the body were unsuccessful and resulted in the request for the specially trained mine rescue team members of the Underground Unit of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department to make an attempt.

The body was wedged at the bottom of a cone area, surrounded by silt and debris making recovery a very difficult and dangerous mission. The LASD recovery team located a small area below the body where debris removal from below could be initiated by the reserve sheriff's deputies, civilian volunteers, and full-time Emergency Services Detail paramedic deputies.

This recovery operation was extremely arduous, with the danger of a cave-in always a threat. Besides using small hand tools, an electric chisel was brought to the scene to assist with the excavation. At about 8:00PM, Tuesday, after eleven hours of tedious work, the body was freed and the LASD teams removed the body through the cave’s main entrance, 350 feet away.

Participating in the mission were the Montrose and Sierra Madre LASD Search and Rescue (SAR) teams, along with a cadre from the LASD Emergency Services Detail of the Special Enforcement Bureau.

Family members, the Parks Service and the San Diego Sheriff’s Department were extremely grateful to the LASD teams for allowing closure of this tragic situation.

"When sometimes a rescue turns into a recovery, we still don't give up," said Mike Leum, LASD Reserve Chief of Search and Rescue. "By recovering the body of a family's loved one, we are able to provide closure for a family who has suffered a tragic loss. We would want the same closure for our own families if it happened to any one of us."

Search and Rescue Team members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department are reserve sheriff’s deputies who volunteer their time to help others for $1 a year, and who partner with sheriff’s civilian volunteers who volunteer for free. There are over 150 members of the eight Search and Rescue teams of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, who were activated for over 450 search and rescue missions last year, making it one of the most active counties for search and rescue missions in the nation. Reserve deputies and civilian volunteers are supervised by full-time sheriff’s deputies.

There are over 850 LASD reserve sheriff's deputies who work patrol, jails, search and rescue, motorcycle patrol, mounted posse, investigations, and more, as team members of the second largest policing agency in the nation. http://lasdreserve.org/ There are a total of over 3,500 LASD civilian volunteers who give their time in service to their community.