A Mexican man in the United States illegally sacrificed his own plans when he found a nine-year-old boy on Thanksgiving Day near the scene of an accident that had taken the life of the youngster's mother.

Dawn Alice Tomko, 45, of Rimrock, Ariz., died after the car she was driving vaulted off a steep cliff sometime between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. The crash occurred Thursday in a desolate area on Forest Service Road 29, about 6.2 miles west of Ruby Road, said Santa Cruz County Sheriff Antonio Estrada.

The narrow, winding road is minimally maintained and is posted at 15 mph, Estrada said. "Apparently she failed to negotiate and vaulted over the cliff about 300 feet from the road."

Investigators discovered that the mother and her son, Christopher Buztheitner, had been camping since Wednesday about one mile from Pena Blanca Lake.

Noting that the woman's husband died recently, Estrada said, "She and the little boy came to the area seeking a change of scenery."

Jesus Manuel Cordova, 26, of Magdalena, Sonora, Mexico, found the boy who had climbed up the cliff and back to the road. Estrada said that Cordova and the boy returned to the scene and tried to help the mother who was still alive. "She was pinned and they were unable to extract her."

Seeking help

The pair then climbed up the cliff and went back on the road seeking help.

"Almost nobody drives on that road except for Border Patrol," he said. "And then after 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. they don't usually go out there unless they get sensor activity."

It got dark and the temperatures began dipping, so Cordova gave the boy his jacket and lit a bonfire to help keep them warm.

Early morning

"Sometime before 8 a.m., some hunters drove by" and found the pair on Friday. The hunters called the sheriff's office, but the first to respond were Border Patrol agents, Estrada said.

Cordova has been returned to Mexico, Estrada added.

Sheriff's investigators went to the scene near Milepost 10 on Ruby Road, or State Route 289, and recovered the body of the woman. Her son was unhurt, but airlifted to a Tucson hospital for observation.

Investigators located the woman's brother, David Tomko of New Mexico, Estrada said, adding that the boy will be turned over to the custody of his father who lives in the eastern part of the United States.

On Monday, Tomko met with investigators and retrieved his sister's property, Estrada said.

Regarding Cordova, he said, "This certainly says a lot about this person, and perhaps about others who come into this country seeking a better way of life. Who knows what would have happened to that little boy had he (Cordova) not found and helped him."

Estrada noted that CNN was scheduled to be in Nogales on Monday to interview him about the case, which remains under investigation.