Missing Hiker's Family Thanks Supporters

The father of Guillermo Pino thanked the people who helped find his son

The family of missing hiker Guillermo Pino spoke out publicly for the first time since his body was discovered on Friday.

Pino disappeared over Easter weekend during a hiking trip with his family, and his body was discovered last weekend after Pino's family lowered a camera into a cave.

This was after a month-long search in the Anza Borrego desert that proved to be incredibly dangerous, because the caves were made of soft mud.

Earlier this week, the medical examiner officially identified the body found at the bottom of a 60-foot desert cave, as that of Guillermo Pino.

Mine rescuers with the LA County sheriff’s department and state park officials recovered the body on Tuesday.

Pino’s father held a news conference because he wanted to thank all the people who supported his family in the search for Guillermo. He says finding his son was a miracle.

“This past Saturday, my son was found in the desert, that day was a day when I was exhausted,” said Guillermo Pino, Sr. ”My wife had been out there a number of times, she was out there every day that week with me, and I told her honey let’s take the day off I'm exhausted, and she said I can't, I gotta find my son.”

Pino said his wife spent days literally digging holes with her hands in the middle of the dessert.

The conference started off with a moment of silence, and then Pino thanked the many people who supported his family during the arduous search. He thanked the city of Scripps Ranch, private investigator Bill Garcia and the many other strangers who spent their weekends in the desert, looking for his son.

On Friday evening, the medical examiner released Pino's official cause of death as "positional asphyxia," a form of suffocation.

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