On Saturday at approximately 11 :00 a.m., a group of quad riders came upon a man near the east end of Dugas Road, Forest Road 68G, east of the community of Dugas by the Verde River. The 25-year-old man, later identified as Gaston Castro Lopez from Tolleson, Arizona, was wearing light clothing and socks but no shoes and carried no supplies.
Lopez stated he had been out in the wilderness for at least a week after being abandoned by the group he was with but would not explain further. He was scraped and sunburned. A record check of his name revealed an arrest warrant out of Maricopa County and a missing person alert from the Phoenix Police Department. Lopez had also been the subject of a suspicious person report on February 14, 2016, near Childs, Arizona.
YCSO’s Rescue 1 helicopter was launched and flew to the area where Lopez was originally located. The Rescue 1 crew flew Lopez out to awaiting paramedics from the Mayer Fire Department before transportation to a local hospital for treatment of minor injuries. The Phoenix Police Department was notified that Lopez had been found. Lopez was eventually arrested by Maricopa authorities on the outstanding warrant.