Borrego Springs
A 31-year-old motorcyclist was found dead in the desert Sunday morning, apparently of heat exposure, coroner’s deputies reported.
Thomas Francis Finnegan of Garden Grove was driving his dirt bike in the Anza Borrego Desert on Saturday morning when he became separated from a friend on another motorcycle, officials said.
Finnegan was reported missing about midday Saturday. Park rangers, the sheriff’s helicopter and resident deputies searched the area until nightfall, sheriff’s deputies said.
The search-and-rescue team began looking again Sunday morning and Finnegan’s body and red motorcycle were spotted from the air about 8:30 a.m. in rugged terrain about 2.5 miles south of the 1700 block of Palm Canyon Drive, officials said.
Deputy Coroner Jerry Hillbrand said it appeared, in a preliminary examination, that Finnegan got lost and collapsed in the heat. Finnegan was found about 20 feet from his motorcycle and there were no immediate signs of injury.
“It was 115 degrees-plus out there. If he went down about noon, the heat would do him in,” Hillbrand said.
An autopsy is pending.
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