Hiker found dead in Thousand Palms

A Loyola Marymount University professor who went missing during a hike Saturday in Thousand Palms Canyon was found dead Sunday, according to a news report.

Riverside County sheriff’s deputies received a call at 3:18 p.m. Saturday that 71-year-old hiker Alan Hogenauer was missing and organized an extensive search before finding Hogenauer’s body about 10 a.m. Sunday.

Multiple search teams that included members from San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange counties fanned out under intense heat Saturday and Sunday in a unsuccessful bid to rescue Hogenauer, Riverside County sheriff’s Sgt. Angel Ramos said.

A sheriff’s helicopter pilot spotted the body in a wash about a half-mile east of the Coachella Valley Preserve Visitor Center, where search and rescue members pronounced the professor dead at the scene, county coroner’s officials said.

Hogenauer’s wife and 12-year-old son had been hiking with him in the Coachella Valley Preserve when they decided to turn back, but Hogenauer wanted to continue on despite the midday heat.