Teen Recalls Terror of Friend’s Fatal Plunge

Tim Leiterman says he reached out to grab his best friend, but he was too late.

Matthew L. Jones of San Bernardino tumbled to his death on a steep mountain above Devore on Sunday as the two of them and another friend hiked along a ridge blackened by the October wildfires.

Tim, 15, interviewed Monday, said he was helpless to save his friend, also 15. Matthew, he said, was standing on the lip of a rocky cliff in the San Bernardino Mountains when the earth, weakened by fire and the subsequent rainstorms, gave way.

“I reached out for him with my left arm,” Tim said. “Both of his hands rubbed on my arm, but he couldn’t hold onto me. If he had grabbed me, he would’ve probably taken me over the cliff with him, and I’d be dead too.”

As Matthew slid away, he looked back in agony, Tim said.

“We were looking at each other eye to eye, and Matt had sheer terror in his eyes as he went backward, like he knew he was going to die,” Tim said. “I’m not ever going to forget his eyes.”

Matthew, whose body was recovered the same day, is the second hiker to die in San Bernardino County this month -- and another two have been reported missing. A 66-year-old Yucaipa man died Jan. 5 when he fell while ice climbing near the community of Forest Falls in the San Bernardino Mountains.

Charles Koh, 53, of Buena Park has been missing in the wilderness near Mt. Baldy since New Year’s Day, and Ali Aminian, 50, of Newbury Park was reported missing in the same area late Sunday by his wife. The search for Koh and Aminian continued Monday without success.

“People need to be aware of their skill level, and they shouldn’t be afraid to turn around and go back if they are faced with a situation above their skill level,” said Sgt. Cliff Weston, San Bernardino County sheriff’s search and rescue coordinator. “The terrain has changed. The extreme weather in these areas has made the ground less stable. There is not enough vegetation around trails as there used to be, and more rocks are exposed.”

Sunday’s tragedy occurred while Matthew, Tim and fellow Cajon High School sophomore Cole McCutchen were taking an early-morning hike on the mountainside above Devore. When the ground gave way, Matthew fell an estimated 500 feet, and Tim and Cole were trapped on the unstable cliff for nearly four hours as rescuers worked to get them off the mountain.

“At first, we had tried to climb down the rock face when Matt fell, to see if we could get to him,” Tim said. “We could see him about 300 feet down for about three to five minutes, but then rocks started falling again, and we saw him tumbling again, down probably another 200 feet. Then we couldn’t see him. There was never any response to us. We were shouting, ‘Matt!’ ”

Cole used his cellphone to call for help, but Tim said rescuers couldn’t find the stranded pair until he tossed his backpack down the cliff, catching the eye of a rescue crew in a search helicopter.

“I was standing on a rock and holding onto rocks,” Tim said. “It wasn’t a good place to be. We felt if we moved, we would’ve fallen. There was a lot of fatigue, a lot of praying, and a lot of times like we felt like we were going to fall.”

Upon being rescued, Tim and Cole walked slowly and rubber-legged to waiting family members, many of whom already had heard that Matthew was dead.

“Our community here at Cajon High will miss Matthew,” Cajon Principal Brett Killeen said Monday. “He was a great kid, and our hearts go out to his family.”

Matthew relished outdoor activities such as hiking and off-road motorcycle riding, and Tim shared the same passions. The pair have been friends since they went to Kimbark Elementary in Devore.

Matthew lived in San Bernardino with his mother, Amanda, and his stepfather, Jeff Tull, neither of whom were available for comment. Cole and his family were also unavailable.

Matthew often spent days at a time at the Leitermans’ home, a rustic residence near the base of the mountains.

“Matt was a great kid, like my own son,” said Tim’s father, Gary. “The boys were inseparable, like brothers -- hiking, riding and helping out around here. Like most boys, they loved the outdoors, going outside to explore.”

After the Christmas Day flash floods that killed two people at the nearby KOA campground in Devore and at least 13 others at another mountain spot, Matthew and Tim took the initiative to fill dozens of sandbags and place them in front of the Leitermans’ house and several other neighbors’ homes.

At least twice a year, the high school buddies would hike up the mountain above the Leitermans’ home, where they would be rewarded with a view of the Inland Empire. They hadn’t been up there since the wildfires devastated the mountains in October, however.

Gary Leiterman said he told his son and Matthew at least three times the night before that he didn’t want them to go.

“I just knew everything had changed up there,” Gary Leiterman said. “They weren’t prepared for what they got into, and Matt paid the price.”