{"id":140230,"date":"2026-01-19T16:32:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T16:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/140230\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T16:32:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T16:32:19","slug":"hiker-found-dead-in-southern-california-while-searching-for-missing-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/140230\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiker found dead in Southern California while searching for missing friends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">A hiker was found dead in the remote mountains of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/us-regions\/west\/california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Southern California<\/a> over the weekend after searching for friends who had gotten lost on a trail, according to authorities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Deputies responded just before 8:30 p.m. Saturday to a call about a missing hiker near State Route 74 in Anza, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/crime\/police-and-law-enforcement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Riverside County Sheriff&#8217;s Office<\/a> said.<\/p>\n<p>The caller said four members of their group had set out on a hike early that morning and failed to return. Concerned they were in distress, another member of the group went searching for them.<\/p>\n<p>The sheriff\u2019s Aviation Unit and Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit launched a search.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/hunter-survives-nearly-3-weeks-california-wilderness-after-his-truck-gets-stuck-remote-area\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">HUNTER SURVIVES NEARLY 3 WEEKS STRANDED IN CALIFORNIA WILDERNESS AFTER TRUCK GETS STUCK<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/riverside-mountain-rescue-unit-vehicle.jpg\" alt=\"Riverside Mountain Recue Unit vehicle on snowy mountain\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>The fifth hiker, who had set out to find the missing members of their group, was later found dead near the base of a 150-foot rock face. The death is being investigated. (Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit, File)<\/p>\n<p>A helicopter crew found the initial four <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/topic\/missing-persons\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">missing<\/a> hikers and hoisted them to safety. The group was taken to the Lake Hemet Mountain Station, where they were medically evaluated.<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/riverside-mountain-rescue-unit-sheriffs-helicopter.jpg\" alt=\"Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit members looking up at helicopter\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>The Riverside County Sheriff&#8217;s Aviation Unit and Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit took part in the search for the missing hikers in the remote mountains near Anza, California, on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit, File)<\/p>\n<p>Crews continued searching for the additional <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/travel\/general\/camping-hiking\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">hiker<\/a> and found the person near the base of a 150-foot rock face. Rescue personnel reached the hiker and pronounced the individual dead at the scene.<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/riverside-county-sheriff-helicopter-mountains.jpg\" alt=\"Riverside County Sheriff's Aviation Unit helicopter on mountain with melted snow\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>A helicopter crew spotted the four initial missing hikers and hoisted them to safety. (Riverside County Sheriff&#8217;s Aviation Unit, File)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/deadly-avalanche-claims-2-snowmobilers-washington-state-backcountry-2-rescued\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">DEADLY AVALANCHE CLAIMS 2 SNOWMOBILERS IN WASHINGTON STATE BACKCOUNTRY, 2 RESCUED<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Riverside County Coroner&#8217;s Bureau is investigating the death.<\/p>\n<p>Rescue teams later recovered the body from the remote terrain. Authorities have not released the hiker&#8217;s identity.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.onelink.me\/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&amp;af_dp=foxnewsaf%3A%2F%2F&amp;af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fapps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The investigation remains ongoing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A hiker was found dead in the remote mountains of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,70878,3247,1181],"class_list":{"0":"post-140230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-camping-hiking","12":"tag-missing-persons","13":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}