A middle-aged woman was found tied to a tree on a hiking test in California hours after a man allegedly pointed a gun at her.
The unidentified woman, believed to be in her 40s, was found by a hiker on a Pebble Beach trail tied to a tree two hours after she noticed a man following her every move behind her.
Her rescuer and another hiker managed to free the woman, who told police she had been walking along the path between Haul Road and Highway 68 when she noticed the “suspicious man following her,” the man said. Monterey County Sheriff’s Office saying.
“He pulled out a gun and walked her to a nearby tree where he proceeded to tie her up,” authorities said.
The man then fled on foot.
He has been described as a Hispanic man in his 30s who has a tattoo on his neck with a word that begins with Z. He was wearing a green hat and a gray sweater, according to police.
The woman was out for an early morning walk when she noticed her attacker. She had told another woman on the road that she thought something was wrong with him, according to Monterey County Now.
The victim had stopped to let the man pass and that was when he approached and pointed a gun at her, the local media said.
The unidentified woman, believed to be in her 40s, was found by a hiker on a Pebble Beach trail tied to a tree two hours after she noticed a suspicious man following her.
The woman was taken to the hospital for a checkup and told police the man did not hurt her, assault her or rob her.
Her savior later found her after the Good Samaritan heard her calling for help.
The woman was taken to the hospital for a checkup and told police the man did not hurt her, assault her or rob her, according to KSBW.
Investigators want to know about the woman the victim stopped to talk to, the outlet said.
The woman was described as wearing a black sweater and walking with a large black dog.
A search was launched to find the culprit, including the use of a Cal Fire drone, but authorities have since had no results in their investigation, according to KSBW.
“That exhaustive search was conducted with negative results, finding someone who matched the description of the suspect that was provided at this time,” deputy spokesman Andy Rosas told the outlet.
In response, Pebble Beach Company issued a shelter-in-place order for its maintenance yard and parts of Poppy Hills.
However, authorities declined to issue a shelter-in-place order during the search as hours had passed after the incident.
Her rescuer and another hiker managed to free the woman, who told police she had been walking along the path between Haul Road and Highway 68 when she noticed “the suspicious man following her.” The victim had stopped to let the man pass and that was when he approached and pointed a gun at her.
Hiker Gwen Estep thought the man’s crime was “sinister” and that the victim was “really raped in a strange way.”
“I hope he’s okay,” he told KSBW.
The investigation is ongoing.
Earlier this month, a Tennessee man who faked a bear attack to cover up the death of a hiker was captured.
The suspect, Nicholas Hamlett, 45, was captured in Columbia, South Carolina, earlier this month, police said, ending a multi-state manhunt following the death of 34-year-old Steven Douglas Lloyd.
The search for Hamlett, which lasted nearly three weeks and spanned states including Montana, Alabama, Alaska, Kentucky, North Carolina and Florida, began in Tennessee, near a 43-mile byway that connects the state’s Tellico Plains with North Carolina. North.
On October 24, police received a call to the area around 11:30 pm from a man, later discovered to be Hamlett, claiming to be Brandon Andrade.
He told operators he had been injured after a bear chased him off a cliff, a story investigators determined Hamlett made up.
When police arrived at the scene, they found Lloyd’s body with Andrade’s identification. Police later learned that Andrade’s identification had been stolen and Hamlett had used it several times. It is believed that he stole it to escape parole.