FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – On Oct. 13, Ron Dailey, 65, left his Selma, California, home to go hunting in the mountains of Fresno County. The area was soon hit with winter weather, and Dailey was reported missing.
Nearly three weeks later, Dailey was found alive over the weekend, and new details are emerging.
Dailey had told his family that he was going to the area of Shaver Lake and Courtright Reservoir, located within the mountainous Sierra National Forest, several miles outside of Fresno. When he didn’t return home, numerous search groups sought to locate him.
On Saturday, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office said Dailey was found on a trail by a group of hunters in the same area.
A day later, Bryce Anderson said his off-roading club, the Hill Hoppers, stumbled across Dailey’s truck in a “very gnarly section” where only “rockcrawlers could make it up.”
“Our club was doing the annual trail closure run, where we go through and make sure no one is in there and we lock the gates behind us,” Anderson told Nexstar’s KSEE/KGPE. “We just happened to find his truck six miles in from the South Gate.”
Those six miles, he explained, are typically reserved for off-road vehicles.
“[It’s a] very gnarly section of trail where only well-built rock crawlers can go,” Anderson added on Monday. “We were in disbelief that a stock truck could make it in that far.”
But he was not surprised that the truck could not make it back.
“It was badly damaged, had a spare tire on, and the front end was lifted up on a high lift jack,” he said. “The back window was broken out when we found it, I assume from trail damage. It looks like he removed the passenger seat and was sleeping in the cab.”
The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office says they will be interviewing Dailey in the coming days to find out more about what happened.
Source: Fox 8 News Channel
Be First to Comment