As the hours ticked past, it became less and less likely that the teenage boy would be found alive.
On Easter Sunday, Jesse Hernandez, 13, plunged into the maze of sewage pipes beneath Griffith Park and was lost in a toxic area so hazardous that rescuers could not lower themselves down to look for him. Scores of emergency workers searched through the night, finding no sign of the boy.
Then, at 4 a.m. Monday — nearly 12 hours after Jesse had vanished — rescue workers watching a live feed from a camera lowered into the pipes spotted a sign of life: a pair of smeared handprints on the wall of the sewer. A little farther, another mark suggested the boy had thrown his shoulder against the pipe.