Car found after missing one week

September 21, 1997 Black Mtn Road 1997-030

A sad story unfolded in a remote part of the Black Mtn. region. A middle aged out of county women driving alone, stranded her small car on a rough, remote 4WD road. The women, ill-equipped, apparently tried to hike out cross country over some brutally rugged terrain. From her location she could see the lights of Banning, and they would have appeared deceptively close. When RMRU was called in, the women had been missing for a week. Her car had been found abandoned, and from this location the search began. Due to the length of time the subject had been missing and the difficulty of the terrain, other search agencies were called in as well. The women’s body was discovered late Monday by an RMRU team. The late hour prevented evacuation that day. Tuesday morning team members successfully carried out the extraction with the assistance of a rescue helicopter. Cause of death was listed as "exposure."