El Capitan hiker who was found dead is ID'd by ME's office

Officials on Tuesday identified a man who went missing while hiking and was later found dead on an El Capitan County Preserve trail.

The county medical examiner’s office said on Tuesday that the hiker was Johnathan Gorbea, 40, who was reported missing Sunday around 10:50 a.m. by his family after he failed to return from a hike on El Cajon Mountain in Lakeside, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.

Gorbea, who lived in San Diego, began his trek around 8 a.m. Saturday on a trailhead located in the 13700 block of Blue Sky Ranch Road.

Officials said the sheriff’s search-and-rescue unit, deputies and detectives from the Lakeside Sheriff’s Substation began searching the area for Gorbea on Sunday. At one point, a sheriff’s helicopter crew also assisted in the search effort.

Gorbea’s body was found near one of the hiking trails just east of the trailhead around 7:30 p.m. Sunday, the sheriff’s office reported.

The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office had not yet released a cause of death.