A Day After He Rode Off Alone This 5-Year-Old Was Successfully Rescued In The Mojave Desert
Lucerne Valley, California. 5-year-old Otto Dahl was camping with his family at the Cougar Buttes campsite in the Mojave Desert.
Otto was riding along on his blue dirtbike when he rode off into the desert all alone on Sunday, May 30th.
“According to the parents, Otto Dahl rode away from their campsite around 2:00 p.m. on a blue Yamaha motorcycle and had not returned,” the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
“Deputies and detectives immediately started searching for Otto.”
“San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Aviation Division, California Highway Patrol’s Aviation Division and San Bernardino County Search and Rescue Teams quickly joined the search. The search is ongoing at the time of this release.”
When Otto disappeared, he did not have a cellphone, food, or water with him, which led to increased concern for his safety out there in the desert.
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department; pictured above is a photo of Otto on his dirtbike
A man named Lee Bower was also camping with his friends in Cougar Buttes that day, and after he heard about Otto going missing he headed out to help look for him.
“We split up and quickly canvased the area. Being on bikes, we could travel the area fast, and since we’re standing up, we could see for quite a way,” Lee explained in a Facebook post.
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“I found one group of campers who said that they saw the kid, which implied that he went a different direction than originally reported.”
“A little later, sheriffs were on scene with a helicopter covering a wide area. No luck. Based on the area we covered, I knew he wasn’t there.”
Sunday concluded with no sign of Otto, but Lee was back at it the next day helping to search for the little boy.
Lee and his friend Bob knew what kind of tracks Otto’s dirtbike made since they were familiar with that style of bike.
They also had pictures of the marks Otto’s shoes made, so the men were able to track Otto using that information.
Although Lee and Bob were going off of the tracks, it wasn’t easy, because Lee noted that so many vehicles were out in the desert looking for Otto that it was hard to identify the tracks.
Lee spotted a rattlesnake and a coyote while out searching, and he worried that maybe something had gotten to Otto before they could.
But then, Lee caught sight of Otto out there all alone in the desert. “As excited as I was, I was scared. I rolled up to the boy,” Lee wrote.
“He was wearing his helmet laying next to the bike. His shirt was pulled over his knees, and both of his shoes were sitting on the other side of the bike that was laying on the ground instead of upright on the kickstand.”
“He was still laying still. But then he started to move and get up. I felt the most overwhelming sigh of relief.”
Lee noted that Otto had terribly chapped lips when he found him. He gave him some water and peppermints.
Other than his lips, he was alright and had survived a night out in the desert.
You can read Lee’s entire account of the search for Otto here.
Facebook; pictured above are Lee, Otto, and Bob after they found the little boy
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