Sheriff Probes Stranding of Family

The Kern County Sheriff’s Department has launched a criminal investigation to find out how a woman and her two children got stranded in the Mojave Desert where they risked freezing to death before help arrived two days later, authorities said.

The woman, her 13-year-old daughter and 22-month-old son told authorities they were looking for a back entrance to Edwards Air Force Base, where they live. But their car ran out of gas on a desolate high desert road at about 8 p.m. Thursday.

The woman and baby were rescued Saturday morning after the teenager walked nearly 20 miles in the dark and was found by a security guard on the northern edge of Rogers Dry Lake Bed, near the NASA complex.

“We’re doing an investigation to see why they ended up where they did and to get straight everything that happened,” said Sgt. Mike Lackey of the Kern County Sheriff’s Mojave station.

It remained unclear why the woman’s husband, an airman stationed at Edwards, did not alert authorities when his wife and children did not return home from a day trip to Barstow on Thursday.

Lackey said the man had been interviewed by a detective, but he declined to provide details about the nature of the questions or responses. “This is an ongoing investigation,” Lackey said.

Lt. Col Pete Micale, a military security officer at the base, said military investigators had also interviewed the man but that “he didn’t give us any information.”

Air Force officials, who said they were not conducting a criminal investigation, continued to withhold the name of the family, saying they had requested anonymity.

The family became stranded at the intersection of 200th Street and Avenue B, about 25 miles northeast of Lancaster. They were reportedly looking for a rear entrance to the base that is very difficult to find, especially at night.

At first, all three set out in search of help. But when the woman succumbed to fatigue, she stayed behind with the baby while her daughter continued north on foot. The girl trekked through the desert for 24 hours, many of them spent in subfreezing temperatures, before she was discovered by the security guard Friday night.

The next morning searchers found the woman, who had left her baby behind to look for help. Both of them were hospitalized for hypothermia and then released Sunday.

Correspondent Dade Hayes contributed to this report.