Sheriff?s deputies, a California Highway Patrol officer and a family friend speak with the two youngsters after they were located in the hills east of Interstate 5. Their identities are shielded.
Two Frazier Mountain children were reported missing on Monday morning, March 24. The publisher of The Mountain Enterprise and several family friends responded to their mother’s call for help at approximately 10:45 a.m., driving to her home, picking up flyers and searching the park and creek area.
When a report came in at approximately 12:30 p.m. that two children were seen in Lebec, near Frazier Mountain Park Road and Lebec Road, Publisher Gary Meyer traveled to that location, spoke briefly with a sheriff’s deputy, then drove north on Lebec Road, watching the freeway to the east.
He spotted two people about one-third of a mile away under a freeway bridge in the creek area and drove immediately across the field to park at the freeway bridge. He ran under the bridge and onto the pasture lands east of the freeway.
Climbing up an embankment and facing east, the reporter spotted two young persons walking eastward about 400 yards into Tejon Ranch property.
Meyer dialed 9-1-1 on his cell phone, which returned a recorded message saying operators were busy. He dialed the local Sheriff’s substation in Frazier Park (245-3440) and informed them he had a visual contact on two persons likely to be the missing juveniles. Office staff at the substation connected the reporter to Sheriff’s dispatch, who took the information.
Two family friends ran out from the Lebec rest stop to ask Meyer if he’d seen two kids. He pointed to their location in a canyon to the east.
The two family friends ran to catch up with the children, who are siblings. Sheriff’s deputies and CHP arrived shortly after. After conversing in the field, the children returned with officers and were given a ride to their home in the officers’ vehicle.
The editor of The Mountain Enterprise spoke with the children’s mother and confirmed that they are now safely back at home.
She said they are in good condition physically and are embarrassed that they caused concern. They were not approached by any other persons nor harmed in any way. They had set off on an adventure of their own.
"They had the idea that they would be able to walk to Bakersfield," she reported, adding that they hoped to visit a family member there. The children did not realize at the time that Bakersfield is about 50 miles away.
This is part of the March 28, 2008 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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