Teen Dies After Fall From Cliff During Hike

A 19-year-old Thomas Aquinas College student died early Thursday from injuries she suffered after falling from a cliff while hiking with friends in Santa Paula Canyon.

Angela Baird of Spokane, Wash., was hiking along a washed-out trail near an area known as the Punch Bowl about 8 p.m. Wednesday when she slipped and fell about 60 feet, authorities said.

Firefighters and sheriff’s search and rescue volunteers hiked three miles in the dark and along rocky terrain before reaching Baird, who was found in a brushy area at the bottom of the canyon in Los Padres National Forest.

Baird was still conscious when rescuers strapped her onto a metal basket and placed her in a sheriff’s helicopter to be airlifted out, authorities said.

“She wasn’t in a landable area,” said helicopter pilot Dan Shea. “So I had to hover at about 2 feet for a while, but I couldn’t get in because there was too much of a slope to land.”

Baird was taken to Ventura County Medical Center, where she died about 1 a.m. following several hours of surgery. The cause of death was most likely as a result of internal blunt force, according to Deputy Coroner James Baroni.

Kathy Good, a spokeswoman for the National Park Service, said investigators believe Baird was walking along a trail that is not regularly maintained near the Punch Bowl.

The last fatality there was about 25 years ago, Good said. A group of Scouts was standing too close to the edge and one slipped and fell.

“People are drawn to looking over the edge,” Good said. “And that can get risky.”

Glen Coughlin, dean of Thomas Aquinas College, said many of the school’s 219 students spend their free time hiking and camping in Santa Paula Canyon. But Coughlin said he was not sure who Baird had been hiking with or why they were walking the trails in the dark.

Baird, a sophomore at the private Catholic college between Santa Paula and Ojai, was described by some who knew her as a shy and sensitive student.

“She was a sweet girl,” said student Mike Beitia.

Despite the accident, some students said they planned to hike back into Santa Paula Canyon. Kevin Rea, who shared most of his classes with Baird, said he was planning on spending the day outdoors.

“It’s going to take a couple of days for this all to sink in,” he said.

Father Bart De La Torre of the college’s chapel said he watched Baird transform over the last two years from an “excitable, typical” teen into a “calm” woman “of inner joy.”

Baird’s brother, Joseph, a senior at the school, and her parents, Michael and Margaret, were unavailable for comment.

Classes at the college were canceled Thursday and a memorial Mass will be celebrated on campus for Baird today. Her body was flown to Spokane where the funeral will be held, Coughlin said.