Human Remains at Carrizo Creek
January 31, 2026
Carrizo Creek, near Palm Desert
2026-02
Written by: Will Pendleton
RMRU reported to Riverside Sherriff’s Office (RSO) Lake Hemet Mountain Station at 7am to receive a scheduled briefing for recovery of remains and further searching of the Carrizo Creek, where the reporting party (RP) of a previous recovery had possibly found more human remains. Only minutes into the briefing RMRU received a request for mutual aid to LA County for a missing hiker, and so our group split into two groups to cover both missions. We received instructions on how to photograph and collect evidence from the field.
At 8:30am from the established Incident Command Post (ICP) at a turnout along Hwy 74, all six Search and Rescue (SAR) members made their way 0.6 mi. to the upper waterfall where they began to traverse the steep side of the canyon to the coordinates provided by the RP. Those coordinates were about 115 feet and considerably higher in elevation from where the remains were found, which prompted a discussion of the differences between WGS84 and NAD27 map datum systems. While the default for modern GPS units in the US currently is WGS84, the difference using NAD27 could be as much as about 200 meters.
After locating the known remains the team of six split into two teams of three. Team 1 led by Richard went down to the bottom of the waterfall where the remains believed to be from a mission during 2025 were found in November. Richard, Ed, and William began to comb the wash and canyon bottom looking for any other remains or evidence.
Team 2 led by Shani with David and Geoffry remained at the location of the known evidence and began their search there, including two large areas on the side of the steep canyon. Additional findings were communicated to the ICP. By 2pm the two teams reunited, then each hiked back from the search area, and made it back to the ICP for debriefing at 3:30pm.
The team operated effectively setting up a multi-department ICP (RMRU & SERT) to perform a search and recovery operation. The six-person search team navigated a challenging canyoneering operation with grace and was able to divide and conquer the Carrizo Creek canyon to scour the area for remains following a tragic incident within their community with the help of Riverside County Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team.
RMRU Members Involved: (David Altenburg, Edgar Gelabert, Geoffry Marshall, Shani McCullough-Holden, William Pendleton, Ray Weden, and Richard Yocum)
Other Agencies Involved: (RSO and Sherriff’s Emergence Responds Team (SERT))