21-Year-Old Palo Alto Man Dies In Hiking Accident

PALO ALTO, CA — A 21-year-old Palo Alto man was killed in a “freak accident” in San Diego last week, his father wrote in a Facebook post.

Max Lenail had been last seen Friday going for a run at Mission Trails Regional Park, San Diego police said.

His body was recovered in water at the park Saturday afternoon.

“With unspeakable grief, I have to report that our beloved Max is dead,” Ben Lenail wrote in a Facebook post.

“He was the victim of a freak accident while hiking in the wilderness near San Diego yesterday.

“As immensely cruel as his death is, we are grateful to God for loaning him to us for 21 years.”

Max Lenail had planned to become a doctor.

“He had an incredibly generous, caring nature and he was going to spend decades healing and helping other human beings,” Ben Lenail told Fox5 San Diego.

Max Lenail had just moved to San Diego earlier this year to complete his pre-med studies at Brown University remotely, his mother, Laurie Yoler, said in an interview with CBS/CW affiliate KFMB.

He was due to graduate in May, Ben Lenail told People Magazine.

Max Lenail was an athlete and experienced hiker, his father told the magazine.

"He knew the wilderness, but he probably slipped and then hit his head and died of a combination of head trauma and hypothermia," Ben Lenail said. "The best way to describe it is a freak accident."

The family asking those who wish to make a donation in Lenail’s honor to do so by contributing to the Van Haren Lab at Stanford Medicine.