Spielberg’s Latest Thriller Is Rescue of Missing Hiker

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg produced a real cliffhanger Thursday.

Spielberg commissioned his own search and rescue team to track down a missing nephew in Angeles National Forest above Pasadena after Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies failed to find the man.

After a 1 1/2-hour search by two private helicopters, Christopher Simon, 23, of Los Angeles, was rescued from a ravine where he tumbled during a hiking accident Monday.

Sheriff’s deputies had searched early Tuesday after Simon’s roommate reported him missing from a day outing to Strawberry Peak near Mt. Wilson. Simon is the nephew of Spielberg’s wife, actress Kate Capshaw.

“The family is very relieved and happy,” said Kris Kelley, a spokeswoman for Spielberg’s Amblin Enterprises production company. The Spielbergs are vacationing out of town and had no comment on the failure of the Sheriff’s Department to find Simon, Kelley said.

But sheriff’s officials said they hadn’t given up the search when pilot Rick Shuster of HeliNet Aviation Services of Van Nuys saw Simon standing unsteadily on one leg and waving.

Instead, said Capt. Michael Quinn, commander of the sheriff’s Crescenta Valley station, deputies were just launching their own intensive search. He said three search-and-rescue ground teams, a helicopter and two search dogs were en route to Strawberry Peak when Simon was found about 9:30 a.m.

A County Fire Department helicopter lifted Simon out of the ravine and took him to Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale, where he was reported in good condition Thursday.

Quinn said deputies conducted a preliminary search for Simon about 2 a.m. Tuesday after the man’s roommate called to report him overdue from the hike. But Quinn said deputies were unfamiliar with the mountain area.

Instead of searching in the Colby Trailhead area off Angeles Crest Highway, where Simon’s car was discovered Thursday, the deputies went to Camp Colby, about 14 miles away. Finding nothing, they left.

A larger search was ordered when family members filed the formal missing persons report with Los Angeles police Wednesday, he said.

“I feel a little bad we didn’t mount the search on Tuesday. I’ve changed the procedure here at the station so we can be a little faster on these calls,” Quinn said. He said that more than 90% of the dozen or so missing-in-the-mountains calls deputies receive each month turn out to be false.

Shuster of Valencia said he and the second HeliNet pilot, Evan Jensen, saw Simon’s car parked off Angeles Crest Highway. With two private security guards who work for Spielberg along as observers, they began crisscrossing the rugged area.

Shuster saw Simon at about the 4,500-foot level. He signaled with the helicopter’s landing lights and Simon collapsed with relief. “It’s a very nasty area. I’m very surprised we found him,” Shuster said.

The private search cost Spielberg about $2,700, Shuster said. The two jet helicopters rent for about $450 an hour.

Spielberg can afford it. Films such as his “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Jaws” and “E.T. The Extraterrestrial” have been among Hollywood’s most successful.