Search for Young O.C. Hiker Ends in Sorrow : Tragedy: Body of Katella High football player lost on camp-out in mountains is found at base of an incline.

Rescue workers on Saturday morning found the body of a 16-year-old high school football player from Anaheim who had become lost Friday afternoon during a holiday-weekend camping trip in the high, rugged Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles County.

Jeremy Dean Sullivan, a varsity player for Katella High School in Anaheim this past season, apparently fell from a steep 40-foot incline in the scrubby, rocky area, investigators said. Searchers found his body about 6 a.m. Saturday at the base of the incline and only 80 yards away from the East Fork Ranger’s Station, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Larry Mead.

The teen-ager was an inexperienced camper and hiker who was eagerly looking forward to the weekend trip with five fellow teen-agers, including some youths who had been camping before, said his father, Arthur Sullivan, a construction contractor who had joined in the night search for his youngest son shortly after the youth was reported missing.

Sullivan said he last saw his son Thanksgiving Day. After sharing a holiday dinner, Jeremy left home to spend the night at a friend’s home. The teen-agers planned to get an early start on their three-day trip the following morning, his father recalled.

“The last time I saw him I was sitting on the couch in the living room. He hugged and kissed me goodby and I told him I loved him and he left,” said Arthur Sullivan, who began weeping at the memory. Sullivan said he and other family members were preparing to put up their Christmas tree early Friday evening when they received a call that Jeremy was missing.

Arthur Sullivan, his wife, Janice, and their eldest son, Shawn, 24, drove to the campsite and spent hours combing the woods, using a flashlight and calling out for the young man.

They did not realize until the following day they had been searching only a short distance from the spot where Jeremy was later found.

“I went back out at daybreak and saw a sheriff’s car. A deputy said they had found my son. I asked if he was alive, but (the deputy) wasn’t sure,” Sullivan recalled. “I went out there and asked another (deputy). He couldn’t answer me and I knew (Jeremy) wasn’t,” he said, sobbing.

Arthur Sullivan said friends and neighbors have been offering their support and love, but he was still having trouble comprehending the loss of his son.

“We were all shooting baskets Thanksgiving Day and I was just commenting on how big he was getting, how he was growing into a man,” said his father, who teamed up with son Shannon, 21, but lost to Jeremy and Shawn during a back-yard game. “And the next day for him to be gone is just unbelievable.”

Arthur Sullivan said he wants a full investigation of the incident.

Deputies at the scene said Jeremy was not wearing a shirt at the time of the accident.

“We don’t know if he died of the fall, or from exposure, or from a combination,” said Deputy Mead. “The temperature up there (in the mountains) dropped to the 30s last night. His upper body had trauma on it that was probably from the fall, but we won’t know the exact cause of death until an autopsy is held.”

An autopsy by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office will be performed today or Monday, a coroner’s spokeswoman said.

The site of the accident is about 45 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. Jeremy and his friends had been hiking in the woods near the Heaton Flats Campground, Mead said. Mead added that Jeremy wandered off from his friends about 1 p.m. Friday, and they futilely searched for him for four hours and then called the Sheriff’s Department.

About 75 deputies and volunteers began a massive search for him at 5 p.m. Friday, Mead said. He said the search temporarily ceased at 4 a.m. Saturday, and the body was discovered shortly after the rescue workers resumed their search two hours later. Mead said the Sullivan boy was wearing only jeans and boots when his body was found.

Friends recall Jeremy as a dedicated athlete skilled at playing football. He intercepted a pass during Katella’s 14-6 upset victory over previously unbeaten Western High of Anaheim on Oct. 9.

High school students who knew Jeremy said they were shocked to learn of his death. After basketball practice at the high school early Saturday, players sat on the bleachers shaking their heads and wondering how it could have happened.

“It sounds so weird, him being dead,” said Robert Guzman, 16, of Anaheim, who had played football with Jeremy. “He was talking about the trip and he was all pumped up for it.”

Players said Jeremy could always be counted on to cheer up his friends, and was always trying to get a laugh. Brian Carlson, 18, of Anaheim recalled the day that Jeremy used an Afro pick to fluff his curly hair.

“He was walking around with this big ‘fro, making everybody laugh,” Carlson said, laughing to himself before turning serious again. “He was a really good guy,” he said quietly.

An end-of-season banquet is being held Monday night for the high school football team. School Athletic Director Tom Danley said some sort of eulogy will be offered at the banquet to honor Jeremy.

“It’s always so unfortunate when something happens like this,” Danley said. “Kids looking for some fun and adventure during their vacation and it turns tragic.”

Jeremy also excelled in class, taking advanced courses and maintaining a 4.3 grade-point average during the last semester, his father said. He had been talking recently about a career in sports medicine or psychiatry, his father said.

“We never had to tell him to do his homework. He just did it,” his father said. Arthur Sullivan said his son carefully planned for the trip, even making out a list of all the items he would need. As concerned parents, the Sullivans also required that Jeremy provide them with a map to let them know exactly where he would be.

“We went down the checklist, demanding to know who he would be with, when he would be returning,” Sullivan said. “Kids at this age think they’re indestructible, they have their whole life ahead of them and think nothing could hurt them.”

Mead said the ground search involved a combination of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Emergency Services Detail, which includes paramedics, and volunteers from the San Dimas Mountain Rescue Unit.

“There were 75 persons total involved in the search,” Mead said. In addition to the ground searchers, a Los Angeles County Fire Department helicopter tried to spot the boy from the air, Mead said.

Mead said investigators did not know why Jeremy was not wearing a shirt. However, daytime temperatures in the Angeles National Forest are often quite warm, even in November, and Friday was a sunny day.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Benita Hinojos was among deputies at the search scene. She said the location where the youths started hiking is only thinly covered with trees.

“It’s a mountainous area--rocky with large shrubs but only a few trees,” she said. “The place where he fell is a steep incline.”

Hinojos said that investigators at the scene determined that Jeremy had been dead “for several hours” when his body was found at 6 a.m. But she said it was impossible to determine from the preliminary investigation whether the young athlete had been killed instantly or had died sometime after his fall.

Arthur Sullivan said his family will rely on friends, relatives and their Baptist faith for support, but will also find comfort in their memories of Jeremy. Arthur Sullivan said he is thankful he had one last chance to tell his son how much he meant to him.

“I loved him and he knew it,” he said.

Times staff writer Minerva Canto contributed to this story.