SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. - "We were just really concerned that he would make it through but it seemed like he was doing great," said Crow's Nest server Marko Realmonte in Santa Cruz about his friend Matt Abraham.
Search and rescue teams, family, friends and complete strangers scramble to locate a 21-year-old man from Scotts Valley, after a bad concussion that put him in the hospital. Matt Abraham's co-workers talk about their deep-seeded worry about a friend. Some of those friends even went out to help with the search locally.
Just hours before Matt went missing, he posted a video on YouTube, thanking family and friends for their support as he heals from his concussion. People who know him said he sounded disoriented and nothing like himself.
"I did fall about 50 or 60 feet at Henry Cowell and I didn't remember much of Friday or any of last week really," said Matt Abraham.
It's that video that really worried his co-workers at the Crow's Nest in Santa Cruz.
"Matt is the type of guy that just lights up a room and everybody here at Crow's Nest loves him," Realmonte said.
That's restaurant server Marko Realmonte talking about his friend Matt who vanished late in the night on Wednesday. His mom spoke about the terrifying moments she spent looking for him, when she didn't find him in his bed recovering from his concussion.
"I saw that the backpack was gone, I checked you know all of the awful places that you would think to look, you know, the hot tub, etc., not there," said Karen Abraham from the search command post in Scott's Valley.
On Friday, search and rescue teams and hundreds of volunteers searched the Santa Cruz Mountains for hours and Realmonte was one of them.
"I was looking up in near Big Basin, because he'd hiked up there about a week and a half ago," Realmonte said.
Investigators said Matt seemed to have gone off on his own, on a bus to Sparks, Nevada. But everyone's biggest concern was his health, knowing how dangerous it can be to have a concussion and knowing he was not acting like himself.
"We were just worried that he would be okay and I was worried about him making it through the night. It looked like he has a backpack and maybe had some trail mix with him," Realmonte said.
But surveillance video and a tip from the bus driver, helped locate him and investigators said Matt made a traveling companion, who figured out he was missing and called authorities. Police in Salt Lake City were able to track Matt down and bring him in safely.
"So relieved, I can't wait to see him and can't wait to have him back and see him get the care he needs," Realmonte said.
We know Matt's family left for Salt Lake City just before 6 p.m. Friday night to reunite with their son. The Santa Cruz Sheriff's Department plans to speak with Matt, when he's able, to find out how he may have ended up so far from home.
