Hiker Finds Man Dead on Rocks at Point Mugu

A 41-year-old Newbury Park man fell 30 feet to his death Thursday when he accidentally slipped off a steep rocky outcropping at Point Mugu while trying to take photographs, authorities said.

Jeffrey Burks was found by a hiker at an area known as Mugu Rock about 1:30 p.m., Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Conrad Harvey said. He was lying face up on a large rock, his camera around his neck.

“It’s a pretty area, but the problem is it’s extremely unsafe,” Harvey said of the area, which is closed to the public.

Burks probably slipped on loose shale bordering a lookout spot that faces the ocean, authorities from several agencies said. Burks was an executive at Dream Quest, a special effects subsidiary of the Walt Disney Co.

His camera bag was found in the area where he fell.

Co-workers told coroner’s officials Thursday night that Burks had been at work Thursday morning but had left, saying he was going to Point Mugu to shoot pictures of whales, coroner’s investigator James Baroni said.

Gray whales migrate north along the county’s coastline in February.

Burks, who celebrated his 41st birthday Jan. 28, had parked his pickup truck on the shoulder of Pacific Coast Highway and walked through a gap in a fence to reach the outcropping.

Three or four hikers came upon the camera bag and one of them spotted Burks’ body over the edge, Harvey said.

“He was just a regular guy who got too close,” Harvey said.

Firefighters from Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station and fire stations in Malibu and Camarillo were summoned to the accident scene. A helicopter was called out, but canceled mid-trip when it was determined Burks was dead. Rescue workers hoisted the body up using ropes and a wire mesh gurney.

The picturesque spot where the incident occurred is an off-limits area of Point Mugu State Park, which borders the naval station and marks the southernmost tip of the county before the highway reaches Malibu.

Hikers, sightseers and anglers frequently cross through openings in the fence to reach Mugu Rock.

Before the current Pacific Coast Highway was created, the old route wound around a mountain at Point Mugu. A portion of the mountain was blasted away to make room for the new highway.

At the bottom of Mugu Rock--where it meets the ocean--chunks of cement that made up the old coastal route remain.

An autopsy is scheduled today. Burks is survived by his wife and children. Funeral arrangements were pending.