The San Diego County Medical Examiner's office on Wednesday confirmed the body found on Black Mountain this week was that of hiker Diem Le Nguyen, who went missing while hiking the Nighthawk Trail Sunday.
Nguyen, 50, went missing while hiking the Nighthawk Trail during the region's first heat wave of the summer. The ME's office has not yet confirmed the cause of death.
Investigators said Nguyen started the hike with a group of 100 hikers participating in a 5K fundraiser Sunday for the Build a School Foundation. When the group stopped halfway up around 8 a.m., Nguyen went ahead and finished the trail alone, SDPD said.
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At 9:30 a.m., she contacted the group, telling them she had reached the end of the trail. Then at 10:08 a.m., Nguyen contacted her sister to say she was tired and needed water.
When she did not make contact, she was reported missing. On Sunday night, search and rescue teams with more than 50 volunteers, search dogs and drones combed the mountain until 1 a.m. Law enforcement teams restarted the search at around 6 a.m. and the body was found around 9:15 a.m. Monday.
Nguyen's disappearance came during San Diego County's first heat wave of the summer, with an excessive heat watch that was in effect for the mountains until Sunday at 8 p.m. The trail is listed on the hiking app AllTrails as an about 4 miles out-and-back trail near Poway. It's moderately challenging with about 850-foot elevation gain.
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Meyer said the body was found off-trail just a quarter-mile from civilization.
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