Local News in Brief : Injured Woman Found After 3 Days in Canyon

An injured Tujunga woman, trapped without food or water for three days after she fell 100 feet down a steep canyon slope off Big Tujunga Canyon Road in Angeles National Forest, was rescued Thursday morning when sheriff’s deputies heard her cries for help.

Linda Gillum, 38, told authorities that she slipped while hiking Monday afternoon. She was pulled to safety by the Montrose search-and-rescue team about 4 a.m., a Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesman said. Gillum was hospitalized for dehydration and multiple abrasions at County-USC Medical Center, where she was listed in fair condition Thursday.

Gillum apparently was too weak from her injuries and the 100-degree heat to climb the rocky canyon slope to the road, deputies said. She was too exhausted to talk about her ordeal Thursday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Deputies patrolling Big Tujunga Canyon Road, in the mountains above La Canada Flintridge, heard the woman’s screams and called the rescue team, Sgt. Robert Shearer said. The deputies heard Gillum when they stopped to check her abandoned car, which was parked in a turnout between Hanson Canyon and Big Tujunga Dam.

Mark Suhr, one of the deputies who found Gillum, said the woman was lying close to a ledge and was unable to move when rescuers reached her. He said she was wearing a T-shirt and jeans and had lost her shoes in the fall.

“She said she was cold so I gave her my shirt,” Suhr said.

Shearer said the woman’s car aroused the deputies’ suspicions because it was unlocked and the windows were rolled down.