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Police Find Three Members of Missing Family
Police Find Three Members of Missing Family
Seach Continues for Father Who Left on Foot Two Days Ago to Seek Help
By JEFF BARNARD, AP
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (Dec. 5) - Searchers intensified their efforts Tuesday to find a man missing for more than a week in a rugged, remote area of the snow-covered Oregon Coast Range as his wife and two young children, rescued just the day before, recovered in a hospital.
Trained dogs, horse patrols and a helicopter with heat-sensitive sensors were sent to join other helicopters, snowmobiles and foot patrols Tuesday for 35-year-old James Kim, of San Francisco. Trackers had followed his footprints until dark Monday night.
"They determined that he went over the side of the road into the Big Windy Creek drainage area and that's when the two deputies from Jackson County went over the edge and they are tracking his footprints right now," Josephine County Undersheriff Brian Anderson said Tuesday morning on CBS' "The Early Show."
Search crews faced challenges, State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings said on the CBS program.
"There are some cliffs they may have to go down to get down to the creek. And there's still snow and ice, cold temperature, but they've been out all night and they plan to be out all day. And their hope is to find him today," Hastings said.
Kim, a senior editor for CNET Networks, had left his wife and two young children in their frozen, snowbound car and set off into the wilderness to seek help, wearing only tennis shoes, a sweater and a jacket.
Overnight temperatures in the region have been in the mid 20s to mid 30s. The National Weather Service predicted patchy fog in the valleys during the night with light wind.
A helicopter crew spotted his wife, Kati Kim, 30, waving an umbrella Monday afternoon. She and her daughters Penelope, 4, and Sabine, 7 months, were flown to a hospital in Grants Pass and were in good condition.
"We're relieved and we had some moments of joy," Kati Kim's father, Dr. Phil Fleming, said on "The Early Show." "At this time I can only think and worry about the safety of my son-in-law, and from all I've heard he just is a heroic father. All my thoughts are with him and with the teams and all the people out searching for him."
The family said James Kim left the car stuck in the snow in southwestern Oregon at about 7:45 a.m. Saturday and walked back the way they had come to look for help, saying he would return by 1 p.m. if he found none.
His family said he had outdoor experience, and State Police Lt. Doug Ladd said there was "a very reasonable chance" that he is still alive. The San Francisco family reported that he had eaten berries in the area, but they weren't sure if they were poisonous.
Before he left, the four huddled together as a family for warmth and ran the car at night until they ran out of gas. Officials said some of the tires were burned as signal fires in a vain attempt to attract attention. Kati Kim nursed both children while they were lost.
"They did a good job. They are in remarkable shape for spending nine days out in the wilderness in this type weather conditions," Anderson said.
Searchers said the key to their discovery was a "ping" signal from the Kims' cell phone, even though the remote region is generally out of cell phone range.
The family saw friends in Portland on Nov. 25 and then headed toward home after a Thanksgiving trip to the Pacific Northwest. They were last spotted at a restaurant that same day, then never arrived at a lodge where they had reservations.
Authorities combed highways and byways using snow machines and helicopters, and checked hotels and resorts along the south coast.
State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings said Kati Kim told a detective the family intended to take Oregon 42, the usual route from Interstate 5 to the south Oregon coast, but they missed the turnoff, found Bear Camp Road on the map and decided to take it instead of turning back. Their car was 15 miles from Bear Camp Road when found.
The complicated network of roads in the area is commonly used by whitewater rafters on the Rogue River or as shortcuts to Gold Beach in the summer, but the roads are not plowed in winter and can be impassable.
As a senior editor for CNET in San Francisco, James Kim covers digital audio and co-hosts a weekly video podcast for the Crave gadgets blog on CNET.
The couple owns two boutiques in San Francisco - Doe, a clothing store on lower Haight Street, and the Church Street Apothecary in Noe Valley, which sells baby goods and skin care products.
Friends and co-workers in San Francisco celebrated the news of the rescue Monday.
"We are extremely relieved that they have found Kati and the kids," said Sarah Cain, spokeswoman for CNET Networks Inc. "We are cautiously optimistic and hopeful that it will bring more good news about James and his family."
Boutique employee Sarah Gion called Kati Kim "a fighter, especially where her two daughters were concerned."
"If anyone could make it through nine days in the wilderness, it would be Kati," Gion said. "We have good faith that they'll find James, too. We're all ecstatic, even though we're still waiting."
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