Rescuers Find Lost Boy Safe Near Mt. Laguna

An El Cajon boy was found safe Monday morning on Sunrise Highway near Mt. Laguna after spending the night missing, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said.

Equestrian teams from the department, Chula Vista police and U.S. Border Patrol found the boy just a mile from where he was last seen Sunday.

Nine-year-old Michael Daniel Ashworth was cold, tired and hungry when his rescuers found him about 8 a.m. Monday, 16 hours after his disappearance, but was otherwise no worse for wear, said Sgt. Glenn Revell, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department.

The boy was taken to Grossmont Hospital, where he was examined and released a short time later to his parents, he said.

“His first question was, ‘Do you know where my parents are?’ and his second question was, ‘Do you have anything to eat?’ ” Revell said.

Michael and his family were spending the day at Mt. Laguna, Revell said. He and his two brothers, ages 7 and 11, were playing a short distance from their parents, and he became lost when he tried to return to them, he said.

Michael had stopped to rest while his brothers continued on to where their parents were, Revell said. When the boy resumed walking, he went south instead of west.

About 5 p.m. Sunday, Michael’s parents notified the Sheriff’s Department that they had been searching for their son for half an hour and could not find him, Revell said. A command post was set up at the 19-mile marker on Sunrise Highway, and more than 70 people began scouring the area south of the 6,000-foot summit.

Realizing he was lost, Michael used skills he had learned during a Hug-a-Tree presentation and stayed in one place, waiting for someone to find him. Dressed in shirt sleeves and without a coat, Michael burrowed himself into a soft pile of pine needles and leaves to keep warm during the night, when the temperature dropped to 36 degrees, Revell said.

The rescue team, on horseback, searched a 4-mile area throughout the night. Members of San Diego Mountain Rescue and De Anza Search and Rescue, two volunteer groups, assisted.