Monday, December 01, 2008

An autopsy is completed on 12-year-old Boy Scout

By EMILIE RAGUSO
eraguso@modbee.com

last updated: February 20, 2008 04:54:29 AM

The 12-year-old who died hiking during a Boy Scout trip at Yosemite National Park on Saturday was a "very, very happy little boy who always looked after his brothers and sisters and always helped his mom with the house," a family member said Tuesday.

The Stanislaus County coroner's office identified the boy as Luis Alberto Ramirez of Modesto. An autopsy was performed Tuesday afternoon, said Kristi Herr, interim chief at the coroner's office. Luis' cause of death likely will be classified as blunt force trauma, she said, the result of a fall of nearly 300 feet.

"He was one of those super-loving children who would help Mom take care of the little ones without being asked," said his great-aunt, Alma Decorte, 38, of Ripon.

The boy's mother, Marta Anguiano, 32, said she found out about the accident about 5 p.m. Saturday. As the family made arrangements for Luis' burial plot Tuesday, Anguiano spoke about the discovery in Spanish as Decorte translated.

"I was cleaning his room and doing his laundry," Anguiano said. "I wanted to surprise him by getting everything ready for him. Then someone from the Mormon church came and knocked on my door. They said my son had a fatal accident."

Luis was one of 10 children and five adults on the hiking trip, said Robert Dees, Scout executive of the Greater Yosemite Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Luis was a member of Troop 112, which is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The trip was organized by the Boy Scouts, but the troop's members are also members of Modesto's 3rd Ward, the Mormon church on El Vista Avenue, said Patrick Rhoades, a church official.

Luis became a Boy Scout when he turned 11, Decorte said.

"He loved the Boy Scouts, he loved the outdoors, the country. According to what we found out from the Boy Scout troop, the last thing he said was that he was extremely excited because he saw a spe- cific tree that he never saw before."

'Somehow' got off the trail

The group was hiking near Upper Yosemite Fall when Luis and another boy fell about 300 feet, park spokeswoman Adrienne Freeman said. The accident occurred about 2:15 p.m. Saturday on Yosemite Falls Trail above Columbia Rock.

"They had somehow gotten off the trail," she said. "We won't know for a long time exactly what happened, but they very quickly encountered some very steep terrain."

The other boy had no serious injuries, although they fell the same distance, Freeman said. There is no indication that the children did anything wrong. The fall appears to have been "a horrible accident," she said.

According to the National Park Service Web site, the trail was built between 1873 and 1877 and is one of the park's oldest trails. It leads to the top of North America's tallest waterfall, which is 2,425 feet above the valley floor. The 7.2 mile hike, round trip, with an elevation gain of 2,700 feet, can take six to eight hours.

"Do not stray off the marked path, as you will find steep drops adjacent to the trail," the Web site cautions.

Dees called the trail "family friendly."

"They had already seen the falls," Dees said. "They went about three miles up, not all the way, and they were coming back down."

Freeman said it is a strenuous trail out of Yosemite Valley, but that the trail is not known for being particularly dangerous.

"Is this a trail where something like this would occur a lot? No, it isn't," she said. "It's a place where occasionally accidents occur."

Rescuers climbed from the valley floor to reach Luis, who was pronounced dead at 3:14 p.m. He was the first hiking fatality of the year in Yosemite, Freeman said.

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