Menifee man, 66, rescued from Colorado River

COLORADO RIVER — An elderly man from Menifee was rescued Thursday, Oct. 10, after spending the night stranded after his inner tube flattened and he failed to return to his party the previous day. The man’s disappearance triggered an extensive search and rescue operation that ended when deputies searching the river on a Sheriff’s patrol boat located the stranded man along a “remote shoreline of the river” the day after his disappearance, according to officials.

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Deputies assigned to the the Sheriff’s Colorado River Station were first notified of the 66-year-old man’s disappearance Wednesday night around 8:30 p.m., Riverside Sheriff’s Cpt. David Teets later reported.

Family members of the elderly man told deputies the victim was last seen under the Agnes Wilson bridge earlier in the day when he decided to float down the river on an inner tube. 

When the victim failed to return after several hours the man’s concerned family called 911 for help locating the missing man.

Deputies spent two days searching for a 66-year-old Menifee man after he failed to return to his family several hours after floating down the Colorado River in an inner tube. RSO photo

Deputies using patrol boats immediately began an extensive search for the man “on and along the Colorado River,” explained Teets. Despite their efforts, deputies were not able to locate the victim that day.

As the search continued into the next day, at around noon deputies in patrol boats located the stranded man along a remote shoreline of the river. 

Deputies who found and rescued the man, who has not been publicly named, learned the victim became stranded on the shoreline after his inner tube ruptured.

“Luckily, the man was found in good health and did not require medical attention,” said Teets.

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Trevor Montgomery, 48, moved last year to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, (the now defunct) Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County and Mountain Echo in Shasta County.

Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.

Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.

Trevor has been married for more than 29 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 15 – but soon to be 16 – grandchildren.