Man missing after recent brain surgery found alive in Santa Clarita ravine

March 5, 2010 | By KPCC Wire Services | KPCC

A 65-year-old man who recently underwent brain surgery and suffers from Alzheimer's disease and seizures had been missing more than 18 hours before a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy found him cold but alive early today in a dark ravine in Santa Clarita.

Medical professionals who responded suggested that, due to his health, Humberto Lara would not have survived the entire night had he not been found when he was, said Lt. Robert Norris of the sheriff's Santa Clarita Station.

Temperatures in the Santa Clarita area early today fell to the mid-30s, a National Weather Service meteorologist said.

Lara was located at 1:36 a.m. in a brush-filled draw near Flying Tiger Drive between Sierra Highway and the Antelope Valley (14) Freeway, sheriff's Sgt. Daniel Stanley said in a telephone interview.

Lara was reported missing at 7 a.m. Thursday. About 10 p.m., a party of 30 that included volunteers, deputies, a scent dog, its handler, and a helicopter crew joined the search for Lara.

Early today, Deputy Robert Tunnell searched the dark draw near Flying Tiger Drive, Stanley said.

"It's a brushy ravine adjacent to the offramp," Stanley said. "The deputy had to walk right up on him to see him. He was assigned to that area and he was being thorough."

Lara, who lives near the ravine in a private residence in Canyon Country, was "extremely cold" when Tunnell found him, Stanley said.

The man seemed to be OK otherwise but rescuers took him to a hospital, according to Stanley.

The deputies and volunteers involved in the search responded from the Santa Clarita, Lancaster and Crescenta Valley stations.

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