Missing Oregon woman found alive after driving off cliff near Big Sur
BIG SUR >> An Oregon woman who vanished on July 6 was found injured but alive about 200 feet down an oceanside cliff south of Big Sur on Friday night, authorities said. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office announced via Twitter that authorities located Angela Hernandez, 23, of Portland, while responding to a report of a white Jeep with Oregon plates “over the cliff” off High- way 1. She was flown by helicopter to a hospital.
Two people walking in the area found her wrecked vehicle partially submerged and dialed 911, the sheriff’s office said in a follow-up post on Facebook that included photos of the scene. Hernandez told her rescuers she had been there for a week, according to California Highway Patrol dispatch logs.
To stay hydrated, she used a radiator hose to siphon water from a nearby stream, according to KGOTV, this news organization’s media partner.
“I just want to thank everybody that helped,” Hernandez’s sister, Isabel Hernandez, told the news station through tears.
Hernandez took to Facebook Saturday to share the news of her sister’s rescue and thanked supporters.
“My sister is alive, she’s talking, and she’s still trying to come to understanding everything,” she wrote. “She’s a fighter and she fought this long and she will continue to. It’s not
going to be an easy recovery.”
She shared a GoFundMe account for her sister, saying, “In her accident, she has lost everything. Including her car, which was her livelihood.”
The search for Angela Hernandez began Monday in San Mateo County, three days after her family last heard from her from Half Moon Bay. She was driving from Portland to the Southern California city of Lancaster to visit family, who said it wasn’t like her to suddenly stop texting and calling. The San Mateo County Sheriff’s
Office handed the investigation off to the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office Thursday after surveillance video from a business showed Hernandez traveling south on Highway 1 into Monterey County.
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office spent Thursday and Friday scouring Highway 1 for Hernandez’s white 2011 Jeep Patriot, which was ultimately found on a beach near Nacimiento Fergusson Road.
Detective Rosemerry Blankswade, a spokeswoman for the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, was relieved to hear Hernandez had been found.
“I know everyone on the West Coast and probably across the nation is thankful to know she is alive and on the road to recovery,” Blankswade said.