Found Deceased CA - Diem Le Nguyen, 50, Nighthawk Trail on Black Mountain, 23 June 2024

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Sounds like there may have been 200!

She appears in a livestream video at the summit. Several people are wearing the same T-shirt. Maybe easier to get lost in a crowd?

This is a weird one. Seems like a busy trail, clearly defined and well-maintained, surrounded by homes. This wasn’t some cross-country trek deep into wilderness. I’d bet cell service is good.

and other than the rockiness and lack of shade, doesn't seem like any obvious places she could've hurt herself like falling down ravines and not being seen
 
Sounds like there may have been 200!

She appears in a livestream video at the summit. Several people are wearing the same T-shirt. Maybe easier to get lost in a crowd?

This is a weird one. Seems like a busy trail, clearly defined and well-maintained, surrounded by homes. This wasn’t some cross-country trek deep into wilderness. I’d bet cell service is good.
Yeah, in a review it said there's complete cell coverage and you can overlook San Diego. Reviews also said it wasn't crowded so I guess a lot of people can be up there and still have space.
 
The livestream video shows her posing by the summit sign for the photo we see in the PD’s post and the news articles. She walks over to the towers, maybe to stand in the shade. Then she appears to walk behind the towers toward the brush, alone. It looks like she may have removed her backpack. Maybe she was looking for a hidden spot behind a tree to pee?

I think this summit is the last place she was seen or noticed.
 
Can anyone post a photo of what these towers at the summit look like and the topography? Could she have fallen from a height? Into a crevice or hole and injured herself?

I mean, you assume the area would have been thoroughly searched, but you never know.
 
I live very close to this area and hike there frequently, so I went out yesterday afternoon and searched. There was a helicopter out there searching for many hours along with many members of the public. My friends and I searched a couple of trails on Northern side of the peak. It wasn't the area she was supposed to go, but we reasoned that maybe she took a wrong turn on the way down.

So, to explain a bit, she was part of a group called "Build a School Foundation." They were doing a 5K walk on the mountain. They charged $20 per person and were raising money for schools to be built in SE Asia including Vietnam. It appears that most attending the group walk were Vietnamese-American. Most of the people were wearing the black T-shirt with the heart on it, including the missing woman.

A lot of information in the press release is inaccurate, and they haven't bothered to correct it. The group set off at 8AM. By 9:30 or so, she is seen on a livestream video at the top of the mountain. You can find it by searching for a Facebook group "Find Dina Diem Le Nguyen of San Diego 6/23/2004". She is in the background of the video several times, along with about 30 other people from the group. It seems to be a very lively group with people and everyone seems to be in good spirits, greeting each other, chatting, and taking photos. Another woman (who has already identified herself and has no further information) takes the missing woman's photo during the livestream. Then Dina DIem wanders off to the fenced area surrounding the radio towers. My speculation is that she was standing there to get a little shade. She is near others but doesn't appear to be talking to them. Then she walks away from the camera into the distance. She doesn't seem to be conversing with anyone else.

Supposedly she contacted her sister at 10:08 AM stating that she was hot and tired. I don't know if the sister was also part of the walk, or at home, or what. That is the last contact with her.

She was dressed inappropriately for the 90 degree weather. She was wearing a long sleeved purple shirt with the black T shirt over it, along with long black pants. She was also carrying a backpack.

These trails range from wide fire roads to single track trails. It is nearly impossible to go off the trail, even if you try, due to the thickness of the bushes on both sides of the trails. It would be hard to go more than 10 feet or so even crawling through the bushes. There are multiple branching trails but it is hard to believe they haven't all been searched by this point. They were also going to be using helicopters with thermal sensing overnight.

No updates yet this AM. A search party of people from the walking group was going to be meeting at 5AM. I'm guessing a lot of others will be searching as well.
 
I live very close to this area and hike there frequently, so I went out yesterday afternoon and searched. There was a helicopter out there searching for many hours along with many members of the public. My friends and I searched a couple of trails on Northern side of the peak. It wasn't the area she was supposed to go, but we reasoned that maybe she took a wrong turn on the way down.

So, to explain a bit, she was part of a group called "Build a School Foundation." They were doing a 5K walk on the mountain. They charged $20 per person and were raising money for schools to be built in SE Asia including Vietnam. It appears that most attending the group walk were Vietnamese-American. Most of the people were wearing the black T-shirt with the heart on it, including the missing woman.

A lot of information in the press release is inaccurate, and they haven't bothered to correct it. The group set off at 8AM. By 9:30 or so, she is seen on a livestream video at the top of the mountain. You can find it by searching for a Facebook group "Find Dina Diem Le Nguyen of San Diego 6/23/2004". She is in the background of the video several times, along with about 30 other people from the group. It seems to be a very lively group with people and everyone seems to be in good spirits, greeting each other, chatting, and taking photos. Another woman (who has already identified herself and has no further information) takes the missing woman's photo during the livestream. Then Dina DIem wanders off to the fenced area surrounding the radio towers. My speculation is that she was standing there to get a little shade. She is near others but doesn't appear to be talking to them. Then she walks away from the camera into the distance. She doesn't seem to be conversing with anyone else.

Supposedly she contacted her sister at 10:08 AM stating that she was hot and tired. I don't know if the sister was also part of the walk, or at home, or what. That is the last contact with her.

She was dressed inappropriately for the 90 degree weather. She was wearing a long sleeved purple shirt with the black T shirt over it, along with long black pants. She was also carrying a backpack.

These trails range from wide fire roads to single track trails. It is nearly impossible to go off the trail, even if you try, due to the thickness of the bushes on both sides of the trails. It would be hard to go more than 10 feet or so even crawling through the bushes. There are multiple branching trails but it is hard to believe they haven't all been searched by this point. They were also going to be using helicopters with thermal sensing overnight.

No updates yet this AM. A search party of people from the walking group was going to be meeting at 5AM. I'm guessing a lot of others will be searching as well.
Thank you for an in depth update, as well as your physical search, @Essbee!
 
why did her group turn back? interesting comments about the trail and signs leading the way back

I noticed the one review of the trail cautioned about staying on the trail you want. If she were hot and tired she may have inadvertently gone off on a side trail. trail was a nice loop. the signs felt a bit deceiving so pay attention to the map on all trails for the route you want to go
 
Diem Le Nguyen was hiking on Nighthawk Trail on Black Mountain near 9711 Oviedo Way with a group when they stopped halfway along the trail at around 8 a.m.

Nguyen left her group and continued alone to finish the trail, police said.

Nguyen contacted her group at around 9:30 a.m. to let them know that she had reached the end of the trail. Police said the group has not heard from her since.

Dina Diem Le Nguyen on June 23, 2024, before disappearing

The weather is sultry, the temperature can reach up to a hundred degrees Fahrenheit, affecting the entire Los Angeles and San Diego plains over the weekend. Therefore, the police consider this an urgent case of disappearance.
 
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Presser: She was hiking with friends and family members. She made a distress call that she needed water. Search still going. Much more at presser

They did ping her phone, but it isn’t as helpful as they hoped, as it includes a very wide area.

Out of the group of 100, Diem was the only one who continued up after the halfway point?? That’s difficult for me to believe, but that’s what it sounds like he said in the presser. If so, they shouldn’t have allowed her to continue alone. I haven’t seen the livestream, as I don’t know where to find it. But didn’t @Essbee say there was a group of people with Diem at the summit?

I’m so fearful for her. May today be the day they find her.
 
Out of the group of 100, Diem was the only one who continued up after the halfway point??
My understanding is that she was part of a small group of people she knows, who turned back halfway. But her small group was part of a larger group of 100 people, whom she did not know. Many of those hikers did make it to the peak.
 

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