Searchers find teen hiker missing near Mount St. Helens

MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. - A Vancouver teen who was missing for more than 24 hours after going on a hike with family was found by searchers, The Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook.

The sheriff’s office said that Anthony Mancuso was alive and walking out with searchers on Monday night.

The sheriff’s office wrote on social media that county search and rescue personnel found a teen’s shoe stuck in the mud in the early evening hours not far from where he was last seen Sunday near Mount St. Helens.

They continued to search in the same general direction and later found him. The Daily News reported he was found in a tree, according to the sheriff’s office. The teen told searchers when he walked off, he lost his footing at the edge of a hilltop and fell down the hill.

An animal startled him and he ran into a bush, where he remained for some time before climbing the tree, according to the sheriff’s office.

Sheriff Brad Thurman told The Columbian in an email that deputies were dispatched around 3 p.m. Sunday for a teen missing near Hummocks Trail off Spirit Lake Highway.

The teen’s mother told deputies her son had stepped off the trail and did not return. According to social media posts by family, he did not have water or food and was not dressed for inclement weather.