Body of Boy Missing From Campgrounds Discovered in Ravine

The body of a missing 15-year-old Pomona boy was found at the bottom of a rugged ravine Monday morning, some 24 hours after he set out on a hike by himself, authorities said.

More than 50 people from search-and-rescue teams began looking for Jeremy Michael Beecher on Sunday afternoon when he failed to return to his family’s campsite.

Jeremy, his father and about 24 family friends had been on a weekend camping trip at Falcon campgrounds that began Friday night, according to spokeswoman Sue Olson of the Cleveland National Forest Trabuco Ranger District.

Orange County sheriff’s deputies said the youth’s father, David Beecher, said his son had gone hiking alone about 10:30 a.m. Sunday. When he hadn’t returned to the campsite by 5:30 p.m., he was reported missing.

Jeremy was last seen wearing jeans, a T-shirt, a Pendleton shirt and boots. Although he was not carrying any camping equipment, he possessed outdoor survival skills that he learned while in the Boy Scouts, Olson said.

His body was spotted by an Orange County Sheriff’s Department helicopter crew about 10:40 a.m. Monday near San Juan Creek and about two miles from the campsite. The body was at the bottom of a ravine in Hot Springs Canyon, an area so rugged that it took search-and-rescue teams more than seven hours to reach it.

Three 100-foot-high canyon walls surround the area.

His body was lifted out by a Marine Corps helicopter and taken to the Falcon campgrounds, where it was identified by family members, Olson said. The body was then transported to the coroner’s office in Santa Ana, where an autopsy will be performed.

A preliminary report indicated that Jeremy suffered massive head injuries, probably caused by a fall, according to Sheriff’s Department Lt. Jay Mendez.

As rescuers made their way to the victim, the boy’s father and family friends waited at the campsite.

Friends described Jeremy as a “regular kid” who loved nature and hiking. They said he also composed and played music.

Saturday night, the group stayed up by the campfire sharing stories.

Jeremy’s mother, who is divorced from his father, heard about her missing son through a radio news report Monday afternoon, sheriff’s deputies said.

“She was very distressed,” Mendez said.

The campsite is about 15 miles northeast of San Juan Capistrano at an elevation of about 3,500 feet.

Temperatures dropped below 40 degrees overnight as rescuers used two bloodhounds in the search.

Assisting sheriff’s deputies Monday were the Riverside County Mountain Rescue Team, staff members from the Cleveland National Forest, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Orange County Search and Rescue Team.

Monday afternoon, authorities called in the El Toro Search and Rescue Team to help reach the victim.