Arleta Man Lost in Forest Is Found After 11 Days

An Arleta man found Tuesday after being lost for 11 days in the Angeles National Forest said he ate leaves and drank muddy water and urine to survive after falling down a cliff into a wooded canyon.

Hikers found Luis Cruz, 26, about 4 p.m. Tuesday, roughly seven miles from the campground where he had abandoned his disabled vehicle Aug. 9, intending to walk home.

He was flown to Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena for treatment of a fractured back and bruises, but was otherwise fine.

“He looked pretty good for being out there for 10 or 11 days,” said Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedic Mark Camp. “He was basically very cool, very calm, collected.... What he was saying made sense.’ ”

Cruz appeared to be suffering from exposure and his shoulder was bruised in a way that suggested he had dislocated it and then popped it back in himself, Camp said. He also had pain in his right hip and back from the fall.

“He was eating grass. He drank some of his urine. He did what he needed to do,” Camp said.

When asked how he knew he had been in the mountains for 11 days, Cruz said, “I have been counting them,” according to Camp.

At the hospital Tuesday night, Cruz spoke with his parents and sister of his ordeal in the forest.

“He tried crawling to a road, but couldn’t get very far,” said his sister Olga Cruz, 27. “Last night he saw a bear, and that terrified him. He said God had protected him.”

Wearing only a green nylon jacket to protect him in temperatures that dipped to 45 degrees at night, Cruz fingered his rosary beads and prayed, he told his family.

They last saw him Aug. 9, and reported him missing Aug. 11. The family waited for two days, they said, because they kept believing he would walk through the door at any time. Cruz often drove into the forest to unwind, they said.

His Chevy Tahoe was ticketed Aug. 10 at Switzer Campground near Angeles Forest Highway for not having a U.S. Forest Service parking pass. It was not until Monday that rangers again spotted the ticketed vehicle. This time they ran a computer check of the license plate, which connected the vehicle to a missing-person report, officials said.

Rescue teams, search dogs and helicopters began scouring the area about 2 p.m. Monday and continued into the night, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Brian Schoonmaker. They resumed the search at dawn Tuesday.

Cruz told his rescuers that the gas line on his SUV had broken and he had tried to walk back to Arleta, Schoonmaker said.

Surviving in the forest for 11 days without food or water was “extraordinary,” officials said.

“Just to find water up there, particularly if he was injured, I’d call it very extraordinary,” said Fire Department Capt. Steve Powell. “If he hadn’t had any survival experience, I’d say it’s remarkable that he’s living.”

Cruz is a student at Valley College where he is studying biology. He hopes to become a doctor, his family said. He also works part time taking care of an elderly man, they said.

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Times staff writers Hector Becerra and Jessica Garrison contributed to this report.