Mission Viejo Man Who Went Hiking Is Missing
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Orange County Sheriff’s deputies launched a search late Saturday for a 55-year-old Mission Viejo man who disappeared during a morning hike up Saddleback Mountain, authorities said.
Bill Cunningham was expected home about noon but had not returned by 10 p.m., said Sheriff’s Lt. Larry Abbott.
Deputies received a call alerting them that Cunningham was missing about 8:20 p.m. They found his black Chevy pickup at Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary in Modjeska Canyon, Abbott said.
A friend who left Cunningham on the mountain earlier in the day told deputies that the missing man is an experienced hiker who probably fell and injured himself, Abbott said.
Sheriff’s officials were considering late Saturday whether conditions were good enough to send up a helicopter to scour the peak using heat-seeking equipment.
“We’re going to have a more intensified search as soon as we can,” Abbott said.
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