Hikers reminded of Grizzly Peak dangers after man found dead
BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- We now know the identity of a man who was found dead at the bottom of a steep cliff in the Berkeley Hills by UC Berkeley police. Grizzly Peak is just east of the UC campus. And it's an area that neighbors say is fraught with danger.
Campus police told me this is an active death investigation, although foul play is not suspected. They also tell me that even though those trails are extremely popular with hikers, and areas like the rock where the body was found are both dangerous and off limits.
The Alameda County coroner confirmed with ABC7 News that the body of a man found motionless at the base of the rock Sunday afternoon was that of 22-year-old Concord resident Lorenzo Baltazar-Trujillo.
"These places are dangerous," said Berkeley resident Chana Gilman.
The longtime East Bay resident knows this area well. She says the graffiti and discarded beer and liquor bottles hint at Grizzly Peak's popularity with young people. But she says the area where Baltazar-Trujillo fell to his death is deceptively dangerous
"On the other side it's very steep and it's straight down and there's nothing really there to catch you," she said.
The view from Sky7 HD gives you an idea of the distance from the top of the rock to the jagged terrain below. The boulder sits on property owned by the university and isn't intended to be used for climbing. But officials tell me that people do it anyway.
Police tell us a female hiker found Baltazar-Trujillo while walking the fire trail. She tried to give first aid to the man, but quickly realized he was dead. She called police and they immediately designated the area as a crime scene.
"It's an unattended death," said UC Berkeley Police Department Lt. Eric Tejada. "So we don't have any witnesses, we don't know what happened."
This is the same spot where a man fell to his death in Nov. 2012. Police say he was also in his 20's.
"If someone were to fall off that rock, it would be a pretty traumatic injury or death," Lt. Tejada said.
There were no witnesses. And although foul play is not suspected, police are still calling it an active death investigation.
