The bodies of a married California couple were found after hiking in “triple-digit-degree” heat in the Mojave Desert, Los Angeles Times reports. At around 1:36 p.m. on Sunday, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department says that they received a call from 58-year-old Kathie Barber, who said she was lost and was unable to find her husband.
It was reported that Barber and her husband, Gen Miake, 60, both of Yorba Linda in Orange County, went hiking in the Mojave Desert in 113-degree weather around 11 a.m. Somehow, the couple became separated, and that’s when Barber alerted police. She told the 911 dispatcher that she had run out of water and that her husband had a heart condition.
San Bernardino County Police officers were dispatched to the Mojave Desert to search for the Yorba Linda couple, but when they arrived at the location, they were only able to locate the hiker’s car. The married Yorba Linda couple’s vehicle was parked in front of the hiking trailhead, and the rescue team was unable to determine which direction the couple had gone.
After several hours of searching for the Yorba Linda couple on the ground and in the air, a helicopter spotted their bodies in the Mojave Desert, near Amboy Crater, which is an “extinct cinder cone volcano off Interstate 40 — and old Route 66 — about halfway between Barstow and Needles.”
Yorba Linda Couple Found Dead After Hiking in Mojave Desert https://t.co/tpLdGEtVDH pic.twitter.com/v97fjZtLlA
— KTLA (@KTLA) August 14, 2017
Authorities say that when they found the Yorba Linda hikers, the couple was unresponsive. The rescue crew went back to the trailhead to pick up another rescuer from the San Bernardino County Fire Department for a second assessment. That individual determined that the hikers were dead at the scene.
Miake and his wife were said to have been found around 4:05 p.m. The hikers were found dead in the Mojave Desert with no shade, just 150 yards away from each other.
Yorba Linda couple found dead after hiking in Mojave Desert https://t.co/JcNFBuFrST
— KTLA (@KTLA) August 13, 2017
Neighbors stated that the couple kept to themselves and had been living in Yorba Linda for 17 years. Barber and Miake were often seen holding hands in the mornings around 5 a.m., taking walks together before heading to work.
Janay Maisano, 18, said they appeared to be a happy couple.
Circumstances leading up to the Yorba Linda couples’ death is unknown, but an autopsy will be scheduled to determine the exact cause of death.
An investigation is ongoing.
[Featured Image by JonGorr/iStock]
