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Stumble19-year-old man missing in Southern Nevada desert
Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009 | 4:29 p.m.
Diego Arteaga
Diego Arteaga had been attending a camp in the Amargosa Valley desert for about a year when he decided to walk away on Monday.
Arteaga, 19, son of Dr. Albert Arteaga and Maria Arteaga, of San Bernardino, Calif., has not been seen since he started walking to Pahrump in Nye County -- a distance of roughly 60 miles.
Camp counselors tried to stop the young man, who suffers from attention deficit disorder (ADD) and can be impulsive, Albert Arteaga said on Thursday. He left the camp wearing a white dress shirt and khaki shorts, his father said.
He carried no identification, cell phone, money or water.
"We are extremely worried," Albert Arteaga said Thursday afternoon. "I'm worried not only for my son, but for my wife, who is taking this extremely hard."
His mother believes Diego may be heading to Redlands, Calif., where he has friends and family.
"Diego, we love you very much," his mother said in a statement. "You are not in trouble. Do not be afraid. We want you to come home. We miss you and are afraid for your safety. We are looking for you. Please call home or the nearest police or sheriff."
His parents filed a missing person's report with the Nye County Sheriff's Office and his description and photo went out across the region.
One caller reported seeing someone walking in the desert south of Amargosa Valley on Monday and another report put him inside a Pahrump casino, but neither report panned out, said family friend Carl Dameron.
"Even though he is 19 years old, his parents are frantic," Dameron said this afternoon.
Albert Arteaga said he is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the safe whereabouts of his son.
Anyone who sees Diego Arteaga is asked to call Deputy Ray Robert with the Nye County Sheriff's Office at (775) 372-5345, or in California, the San Bernardino County Sheriff at 911 or a local law enforcement agency.
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He's 19 a grown man. If he chooses to do something how could he possibly ever be in trouble? What's really going on here? Why is he in a camp he doesnt wanna be in? Why has he been there for a year? What kind of "camp" is this?
Why are people trying to control a grown man?
Clearly this young man has more issues than ADD. They are just not telling the public.
What???? Another story that is going to end bad, evidently the desert is the new euthanasia.
i blame the counselor, he should have called 911 and his parents immediately. he knew the kid left without money, ID, Cell phone or water. how dare he let him go without calling 911 and his parents, specially if he new that he have ADD. Shame on him.
I'm saddling up, and gonna search for this young man, When I find him and turn him back into his parents, for safekeeping, I will take the reward and purchase some chinese imports, and outsource the retail end to someone in India, so I can compete with all you rich taxi drivers who amass fortunes at the expense of drunken tourists. He escaped; I applaud his independence, but no cell phone? sounds like a third world plan in a desert that has no mercy for the un-celled. No water? gee, I hope this doesnt end up, sad, like my marriage. I bet you my horse and saddle, he hooks up with that lost hiker in Utah, they are the same age, I hope to introduce them, they would make a nice couple.Too bad about the fella who got stuck in the wash. Let's use some sense, I say.