Girl, 13, Walks Miles in Desert to Save Family

A 13-year-old girl, desperately seeking help after her family’s car ran out of gas, walked up to 20 miles through the Mojave Desert in subfreezing temperatures to alert rescuers to her stranded mother and baby brother, Air Force authorities said Saturday.

The girl, covered in mud and exhausted, was found by Air Force officials on the base about 8 p.m. Friday, after spending 24 hours searching for help. She was uninjured and assisted rescuers, who found her mother and brother about 9:15 a.m. Saturday.

Authorities said the mother and 22-month-old boy suffered hypothermia and were hospitalized at the base. The child had frostbite and was in serious condition, but it was unclear whether any amputation would be necessary, they said.

None of the family members suffered life-threatening injuries, officials said.

“It’s a dramatic story,” said George Fox, a base spokesman. “After two nights out there with temperatures below freezing, they’re probably thanking God they’re alive.”

Authorities at the base said they were unable to provide many details about what happened to the family.

Officials from the Kern County and Los Angeles County sheriff’s departments aided in the search, but they declined to comment, referring questions to officials at the base.

Fox declined to identify the family, saying they requested privacy. He could not provide information on why the woman’s husband, a base airman, apparently did not contact authorities during his family’s absence.

Authorities provided the following account of what they believe happened:

The family’s ordeal began about 8 p.m. Thursday when the woman apparently became lost while trying to find the back entrance to the base on a return trip from Barstow.

Fox said the back entrance is in the middle of the desert and can be difficult to find.

After the car ran out of gas, the woman decided to abandon it and head off with her two children in an attempt to find help. They apparently walked north, following the rim of Rogers Dry Lake, located in the center of the vast base.

At some point during the trek, the mother grew tired from holding the boy and stopped. The teenager pressed on. The following day, the weary, mud-covered girl stumbled across security guards near the NASA section of the base.

Authorities estimated she had walked 15 to 20 miles. She had a blanket and water bottle to sustain her during the night, when temperatures fell to the low 20s.

“She was in pretty good shape,” Fox said.

After a medical evaluation, the girl was able to narrow the search area for authorities, who had already begun patrols on foot and by helicopter, including one with a heat-seeking device.

On Saturday morning, a Ft. Irwin helicopter patrol spotted the mother walking alone along the eastern shore of the dry lake.

She had left her young son behind, swaddled in a blanket. She was able to direct the Kern County Sheriff’s Department search-and-rescue team to the child about 15 minutes later.

Fox said he did not know exactly where the child had been left.

“It was in the wilderness out there,” he said.

Fox said the family has been reunited and an investigation is continuing.

“At the present time, our whole thing was to get the family,” he said. “Any incident like this has a follow-up.”

Fox said it is easy to get lost in the back-country area of the base, which is mostly open desert.

Last weekend, a Palmdale mother of five died after becoming lost while hiking in the Angeles National Forest in subfreezing temperatures. Karen Tellez, 40, apparently was disoriented by driving rain while trying to get to a phone to call someone about picking her young son up from school.