Body to be recovered from Anza-Borrego cave

A body wedged in a deep mud cave in Anza Borrego Desert State Park should be extricated Tuesday night, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said.

His family believes the body is that of 24-year-old Guillermo Pino, who disappeared on a hiking outing April 8.

Through the day, mine rescue specialists from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department worked to devise a method to remove the body from a cave estimated at 50 to 60 feet in depth.

A private investigator hired by the Pino family lowered a video camera into the cave on Saturday. The images convinced the family that the body is his.

On Monday, San Diego County sheriff's deputies ended their retrieval effort after a state geologist warned that the mud walls were dangerously unstable. The department then requested specialists from  Los Angeles County.

Once the body is removed, it will be turned over to the San Diego County medical examiner to determine the cause and manner of death.

--Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Guillermo Pino and the Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Credit: Fox5 San Diego