‘Freak accident’ may have killed Brown University student found dead after hike in San Diego, father says

Investigators have recovered a body in the search for missing hiker who vanished in San Diego over the weekend.

As the San Diego Tribune reports, 21-year-old  Max Lenail went for a run at the Mission Trails Regional Park on Friday, and did not return. On Saturday, a hiker spotted a body near a waterfall in the park.

While authorities are waiting for the medical examiner to make a positive identification, Lenail’s parents both said in social media posts that the body belongs to their son.

“With unspeakable grief, I have to report that our beloved Max is dead,” his father wrote on his Facebook page, according to the newspaper, attributing his son’s death to a “freak accident.”

“He knew the wilderness, but he probably slipped and then hit his head and died of a combination of head trauma and hypothermia,” the father said in an interview with KRON-4.

Max was a student at Brown University who was studying biology.

Authorities have not yet commented on a cause of death. CrimeOnline will provide further updates when more information is available.

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