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The shocking events on Mt Baldy in December 2019 - the Sree Mokkapati and Tim Staples deaths

Sree Mokkapati disappeared December 8, 2019, Mount Baldy, California. Body found June 19, 2020.

Revised April 2024

Sreenivas "Sree" Mokkapati, 52, and his three friends went for a day hike from the Village at Bear Flats to the Mt. Baldy Summit in California on Sunday, December 8, 2019.

At some point during the day, Sree separated from the rest of the group and disappeared on the mountain. There was a last haunting picture of him walking up an incline alone into the mist. The terrible death of a search and rescue volunteer, Tim Staples, in an ice chute a week later meant the search for Sree was called off early.

Six months later, Sree Mokkapati’s remains were found, on the northwest side of Mount Baldy, near the top of Fish Fork at 7,800 feet elevation. Another example of a hiking group that splits up with a solo hiker going their own way with fatal consequences.

The hike up Mount Baldy

Sreenivas "Sree" Mokkapati picture — Picture of Sree Mokkapati climbing Mt Baldy December 2019

During the morning hike, the group decided they wanted to turn around because of the conditions, but Sree said he wanted to keep heading toward the summit alone. When he failed to return to his car that afternoon, his friends got worried and called the authorities.

A friend of Sree’s and fellow hiker that day, Justin Williams, took a photo as he ascended the trail alone without his three companions. Williams said Mokkapati seemed to just disappear into the distance after he snapped the photo.

Sree was an experienced hiker who had hiked in the area many times. Given that it was a day hike, he was equipped only with limited supplies. He was wearing a gray puffy jacket and gray pants.

What is and where is Mount Baldy?

Mount San Antonio, colloquially referred to as Mount Baldy, is the highest peak of the San Gabriel Mountains, and the highest point in Los Angeles County, California. The peak is within the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and Angeles National Forest and it is the tallest mountain in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The peak is pyramid-shaped, with a steep south face (Baldy Bowl) and a shallower north face. The summit is accessible via a number of connecting ridges along hiking trails from the north, east, south and southwest.

The search for Sree Mokkapati

Search and rescue volunteer teams from San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Orange, Kern and San Diego counties, with assistance from two sheriff's helicopters, searched the mountain for any signs, at elevations up to 7,000 feet. The snow was waist-deep at some points.

A search of the area by rescuers found four other stranded or injured hikers, but unfortunately not Sree. Angeles National Forest authorities issued an emergency closure for parts of Mt. Baldy during the search and this was in effect until December 25.

The death of searcher Tim Staples

Then tragedy struck. A week into the search, a volunteer crew member, 32-year-old Tim Staples, was found dead in an ice chute after being separated from his search partner.

Tim taught social science and English at Damien High School in La Verne. He was a nine-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department’s West Valley search and rescue team and had got married six months earlier. On that day, 126 searchers in 23 teams were involved in the operation.

The San Bernadino Sheriff’s Office announced on December 14th that the search for Mokkapati was being suspended in the wake of Staples’ death.

It was believed he may have taken a fatal fall on one of the notoriously narrow, ice-covered trails. San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said, “The cause and circumstances surrounding this incident are unknown and investigators are working to determine exactly what occurred”.

Several weeks after Sree’s disappearance, no sign had been found. The decision to go it alone up Mt. Baldy was an apparently fatal one for him and for the search volunteer, Tim Staples.

Remains of Sree Mokkapati found

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said two hikers found Sree Mokkapati's remains on June 19, 2020, on the northwest side of Mount Baldy, near the top of Fish Fork at 7,800 feet elevation. The county medical examiner confirmed the identity of the remains on Saturday, June 27.

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