Missing Reporter Is Found Safe

Los Angeles Daily Journal reporter Gail Diane Cox was found by a fisherman and led to safety Friday morning after wandering without food for four days in the Trinity Alps area west of Redding.

Cox, 39, of Burbank, was hungry, dehydrated and suffering some cuts and bruises but otherwise in good condition. She said by telephone she lost the trail last Monday while walking to see some wildflowers. She was dressed in a bathing suit, caftan and tennis shoes.

Nearly 40 sheriff’s deputies and volunteers aided by dogs and helicopters--including two flown in by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department--searched for her. She said she spotted the helicopters three times, but could not signal them because of heavy brush.

She said she lit several fires with green boughs, producing enough smoke to attract the attention of a nearby fisherman. She said he apparently was “the only person in the area who hadn’t heard that I was lost.”