Deputies Searching for Trail-Bike Rider, 19, Missing in Canyon Country

Thirty sheriff’s deputies searched Monday for a young woman who left a disabled companion Sunday after their trail bikes became stuck in a rugged part of a remote Canyon Country hiking area.

Blaine Marie St. John, 19, of Redondo Beach was last seen about 1 p.m. Sunday off Bouquet Canyon and Texas Canyon roads, where she left her friend, Dennis Welbur, 21, also of Redondo Beach, to get help after their bikes could go no farther along the steep, rocky terrain, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tom Bradstock.

Welbur, whose walking is impaired, was brought to safety about 5:30 p.m. by people riding through the canyon in a four-wheel-drive vehicle, Bradstock said.

Deputies deployed a mountain rescue emergency detail, two helicopters and two dogs to search until nightfall Monday, Bradstock said, and planned to resume the search early today.

Deputies were worried that St. John had no food or water and could suffer heat exhaustion in the 100-degree weather.

“Anytime it’s that hot and the person is without water, you would assume that heat exhaustion is a possibility,” Bradstock said.

However, deputies said there are sources of water in the area--including reservoirs, small streams and lakes. St. John’s friends told deputies that she was familiar with the area because she has often ridden her dirt bike there, Bradstock said.