Nonverbal teen lost in woods clinks rocks to alert rescuers, California cops say

A nonverbal 16-year-old boy used his ingenuity to signal rescuers looking for him after he became lost on a hike in a Southern California park, authorities said.

“We were hollering down in this canyon, and I heard something come back,” Steve Goldsworthy, who’s part of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Montrose Search-and-Rescue Team, told KNBC. “It sounded like somebody taking two rocks and putting them together.”

Goldsworthy told the station he heard the sound repeat three times. The boy’s mother had told searchers her son had “an affection for rocks,” so he investigated further.

Following the sound, searchers found the missing teen in the brush 400 feet below a fire road, the Montrose Search-and-Rescue Team reported on Facebook.

The boy had been on a hike at Crescenta Valley Community Regional Park in Glendale, just south of the Angeles National Forest, on Sunday, April 3, the team reported.

Search teams from several nearby police departments and a police helicopter began looking for the teen, the post said.

The rescue team found the teen, who had gotten separated from his mother and sister while hiking, after a six-hour search, Goldsworthy told KNBC. He established a rapport with the boy by tossing a rock into the canyon, prompting the teen to give a thumbs up.

Paramedics treated the rescued 16-year-oldbefore releasing him to his family, the search team said.

“Our department was thrilled this incident had a happy ending,” the Facebook post said.

This story was originally published April 6, 2022 at 10:52 AM with the headline "Nonverbal teen lost in woods clinks rocks to alert rescuers, California cops say."