Comatose Woman Hiker Identified by Fingerprints

A woman who has been in a coma in a Pasadena hospital since suffering a head injury while hiking three weeks ago has been identified through fingerprints. She is Charlotte Ann Yost, 28, of Rosemead, Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Linnemeyer said Wednesday.

The Sheriff’s Department appealed Sept. 26 for public assistance in identifying the woman, but no one came forward, Linnemeyer said. Through fingerprints, investigators finally learned her identity Tuesday and telephoned her Rosemead home, where her roommate said she had not seen Yost for three weeks but had not filed a missing person’s report because she had disappeared in the past.

The roommate was taken to Huntington Memorial Hospital, where she identified Yost. Linnemeyer said Yost was hiking in Eaton Canyon, north of Altadena, on Sept. 19 when she injured herself.