Woman missing in California for 12 days shares survival story
She said it didn't take long for her to realize she was lost in steep and treacherous terrain without food, water, or a charged cellphone
It's been more than two months since Esmeralda Pineda went missing for 12 days in a rural part of Nevada County, near the middle fork of the Yuba River and Sweetland Creek in Nevada City.See the interview in the video aboveStill, memories and details of how she survived are hard for her to recall."I kept on going in and out, like I felt like I was passing out," Pineda said. "A lot of it is a blur. Like I'm trying to remember certain like moments in there and all I can remember is just that I kept on feeling like there was like animals following me."Pineda, who was 24 years old at the time, had gone camping with her dad and two friends at a mining claim camp — an area she said you have to rappel down ropes to get to. But on the morning of Aug. 26, while the others were sleeping, she said she decided to leave."I didn't want to be there no more because I didn't have any internet or no battery on my phone. So, I just started climbing up the mountaintop," Pineda said.She said it didn't take long for her to realize she was lost in steep and treacherous terrain without food, water, or a charged cellphone."Unfortunately, all I had was some hot sauce," she said. "And I ate a thing that looked like a fig on a tree, but when I bit into it, it tasted like green stuff."Outside of water from the river, she said that bottle of hot sauce and a Heineken she found in a recycling bin near an abandoned trailer were her only clear memories of a meal."I do believe I'm remembering like, lizard guts, like entering my body at one point in time," Pineda said. "Like one night I was sleeping and all I could hear was just like my stomach growling."While Pineda was fighting to survive and to make it out of the canyon, crews with the Nevada County Sheriff's Office were using every resource to find her.Pineda said she knew they were looking for her and even saw the helicopter circling above."I started waving my hands when the helicopter went over, but they seemed to not be able to see me," she said. "I was waving my hands and I was trying to scream, but I couldn't scream."Her dad, Mike Goodie, who she had been on the camping trip with, said he spent days searching for her."I walked all kinds of trails, you know. I walked until 3 or 4 in the morning," Goodie said. "It was probably the most draining thing of my life, you know, losing somebody like that and not knowing where she's at."But on Sept. 6, after days of trying to climb to the top of the canyon, Pineda made it out. Deputies found her around 12:41 p.m. on top of the canyon – severely emaciated and dehydrated."I was just like, oh my God. I'm saved," she said. "When the sheriff came and talked to me and asked me how long I've been out here, I said seven or eight or nine. I didn't say no 12. And like they were like, 'Well, ma'am, we've been looking for you for about 12 days now.'"Pineda was life-flighted to a hospital, where she was reunited with her dad."It brought tears to my eyes when I saw her. It was emotional," he said. "I don't even know if she would have made it another day because they said her kidneys were shutting down, she couldn't talk, which was a sign of her body shutting down. She couldn't swallow. Her eyes were messing up."Pineda said she spent about a week recovering in the hospital.Now, in the two months since she went missing, Pineda has gained back the 40 pounds she lost, but that sense of self-confidence she had when she took off on her own is something she said she's still trying to find. "It made me realize that I need to fix my life because that means that it's probably trying to break or it's already broken," she said. "So, I realize that it's time to step up to the plate and get myself in better hands than where I'm at right now.""It humbled her a lot. It did. It woke her up. I know that she definitely did change," Goodie said. "It's changed her for the good. I know that. It definitely has."Pineda credits those 12 long days stuck in the canyon with giving her a new lease on life."I do believe that the world tried to wake me up," she said. "I'm glad that it happened, kind of — just to wake me up. But it was scary, and I've been ready to move on, and I'm trying to move on."It's been more than two months since Esmeralda Pineda went missing for 12 days in a rural part of Nevada County , near the middle fork of the Yuba River and Sweetland Creek in Nevada City.
See the interview in the video above
Still, memories and details of how she survived are hard for her to recall.
"I kept on going in and out, like I felt like I was passing out," Pineda said. "A lot of it is a blur. Like I'm trying to remember certain like moments in there and all I can remember is just that I kept on feeling like there was like animals following me."
Pineda, who was 24 years old at the time, had gone camping with her dad and two friends at a mining claim camp — an area she said you have to rappel down ropes to get to. But on the morning of Aug. 26, while the others were sleeping, she said she decided to leave.
"I didn't want to be there no more because I didn't have any internet or no battery on my phone. So, I just started climbing up the mountaintop," Pineda said.
She said it didn't take long for her to realize she was lost in steep and treacherous terrain without food, water, or a charged cellphone.
"Unfortunately, all I had was some hot sauce," she said. "And I ate a thing that looked like a fig on a tree, but when I bit into it, it tasted like green stuff."
Outside of water from the river, she said that bottle of hot sauce and a Heineken she found in a recycling bin near an abandoned trailer were her only clear memories of a meal.
"I do believe I'm remembering like, lizard guts, like entering my body at one point in time," Pineda said. "Like one night I was sleeping and all I could hear was just like my stomach growling."
While Pineda was fighting to survive and to make it out of the canyon, crews with the Nevada County Sheriff's Office were using every resource to find her.
Pineda said she knew they were looking for her and even saw the helicopter circling above.
"I started waving my hands when the helicopter went over, but they seemed to not be able to see me," she said. "I was waving my hands and I was trying to scream, but I couldn't scream."
Her dad, Mike Goodie, who she had been on the camping trip with, said he spent days searching for her.
"I walked all kinds of trails, you know. I walked until 3 or 4 in the morning," Goodie said. "It was probably the most draining thing of my life, you know, losing somebody like that and not knowing where she's at."
But on Sept. 6, after days of trying to climb to the top of the canyon, Pineda made it out. Deputies found her around 12:41 p.m. on top of the canyon – severely emaciated and dehydrated.
"I was just like, oh my God. I'm saved," she said. "When the sheriff came and talked to me and asked me how long I've been out here, I said seven or eight or nine. I didn't say no 12. And like they were like, 'Well, ma'am, we've been looking for you for about 12 days now.'"
Pineda was life-flighted to a hospital, where she was reunited with her dad .
"It brought tears to my eyes when I saw her. It was emotional," he said. "I don't even know if she would have made it another day because they said her kidneys were shutting down, she couldn't talk, which was a sign of her body shutting down. She couldn't swallow. Her eyes were messing up."
Pineda said she spent about a week recovering in the hospital.
Now, in the two months since she went missing, Pineda has gained back the 40 pounds she lost, but that sense of self-confidence she had when she took off on her own is something she said she's still trying to find.
"It made me realize that I need to fix my life because that means that it's probably trying to break or it's already broken," she said. "So, I realize that it's time to step up to the plate and get myself in better hands than where I'm at right now."
"It humbled her a lot. It did. It woke her up. I know that she definitely did change," Goodie said. "It's changed her for the good. I know that. It definitely has."
Pineda credits those 12 long days stuck in the canyon with giving her a new lease on life.
"I do believe that the world tried to wake me up," she said. "I'm glad that it happened, kind of — just to wake me up. But it was scary, and I've been ready to move on, and I'm trying to move on."
