Posted on 12/10/2006 6:38:04 AM PST by surfer
For four days, as the snowbound Kim family's food supplies dwindled and they used up their gas running their stranded car's heater, no one even knew they were missing.
It was two more days before rescuers narrowed the search to roads leading across thousands of square miles of western Oregon, and another day before cell phone transmissions helped to pinpoint the search area.
While the speed of the investigation in some ways was remarkable -- given what little authorities started out with -- it was dogged by early missteps and obstacles that handicapped investigators.
A Portland hotel where the family had stayed refused to provide credit card records that might have indicated which way the Kims had gone. An early search by air and land of the treacherous mountain route that James and Kati Kim drove out of Grants Pass yielded nothing.
The owner of a lodge on the road where the Kims' car was stuck had told authorities three days before Kati Kim and her daughters were found that he had seen tire tracks in the snow, but he hadn't been able to follow them in his snowmobile once he hit bare ground. No one followed up.
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(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
If they had their credit card numbers they could trace any other transactions - like where they ate, where they bought gas, where they picked up that lousy map.
How many of us have told their relatives their credit card numbers?
Yesterday, while walking the dog, I noted a 4"-6" sheet of ice on that side of the street. So I called the Village to report. As for the people that actually live on that street, who the heck knows? As in this case, they probably assumed someone else called it in.
I understand the "follow the water" concept. I would not be very willing to head into a snowdrift to test it . . . of course, I wasn't there.
I saw the chopper pilot who found the car based on his hunch and actual knowledge of the area. It is simply incredible that those responsible early on were unaware of the dead-end logging road and it's history of confusing people.
Well after 6 days without food and you just walked close to 10 miles on the road and you haven't found anything and the prospect of heading back to your family just to watch them die...I think would push anyone to solve the problem.
Ironically even though James died his efforts did lead to the rescue of his family - his footprints in the snow on the road.
No doubt corporate policy requires legal approval before releasing any personal information to authorities. It's possible the manager even gave the credit card info to the police, but in order to protect his/her job asked them never to reveal that information publicly. That's what I would do once corporate refused to release the records.
And I certainly would like to know the hotel that refused to give info about a missing family.
You hit that one on the head.
That is also somewhat perplexing. I wonder if the authorities knew about it, but couldn't get to the location.
Agreed. The only mitigating factor is that she probably received hundreds of tips on the case, and it's tough to sift out the "good" ones. But when she met the guy face-to-face and was presented with his credentials, she should've taken some action.
If I were running the show, she would be reassigned to another less critical position given her lack of response.
Broken gate.
I hope the ones who broke the gate has a conscious and it torments them.
If I were guessing, I think the ones who broke the gate were more than likely snowmobile riders. We have this problem here in the mountains of Tn.. The National Forest gates the roads due to traffic misuse by users. The dirt and gravel roads will not hold up in the winter months due to freezing thawing of the earth. Traffic use destroys the roads and, this a great expense to the tax payers money that funds the National Forest Service.
I posted the following on the earlier thread not knowing about this one.
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It is amazing that when I have just about decided that this thread has run out of gas, you come up with something like that.
Before I get to the most important point, an observation about the credit card info.
There is really good reason for that under normal circumstances. People will get info on hotel guests and either knock over their home while they are gone or otherwise rip them off.
But I am sure that anyone above a desk clerk would have the authority and the judgment to break the rules in an emergency search and rescue situation. So I expect this was a low level employee afraid to do something he/she was told not to do.
So someone should have gone to the top person.
But that brings up another question. I have always understood that in a life threatening situation, a peace officer can commandeer a car, boat, whatever that is required to save a life or apprehend a dangerous person. That may not be correct and apprehending a computer that you can't figure out how to work (passwords, etc.) may not have been cost effective as relates to time.
And since we don't even know that the information would have helped, we can't say any more about that other than I would fire the person who refused the information under those circumstances.
But the part of this story that really hurts is the part about the guy that saw the car tracks and followed them until his snowmobile hit dry land.
He has to have some sleepless nights for the rest of his life.
Maybe he has a physical condition that does not allow it, but I would have gone back to the house and rounded up something that would go the rest of the way and I would have found out what was at the end of the tracks.
If not able to do that myself, I would have planted myself at the entrance to that road, that is, where it turned off of the main road, and raised a fuss until someone did go in.
Too many times people pick up the phone and make a call and then they are done. Most of the time that works but many times it does not because of the huge number of people, the various layers of command, shift changes and other things that cause information to be lost.
The "I thought you took care of that" causes a lot of mistakes, as well.
So my suggestion is that we should promise ourselves that should we ever be involved in anything like this and we see something that has such great significance that we do more than just make a phone call. If nothing happens after the first call, call again. If nothing happens, call another one of the agencies involved. If nothing happens after you call three times, call the TV station.
We all have "I should have's" on our conscience. I would hate to have this one.
That story is to me the saddest of them all.
RE the credit card info refusal.....did they lose a day or so until the Denny's in Roseburg first identified them by description?
I hope the ones who broke the gate has a conscious and it torments them.
If I were guessing, I think the ones who broke the gate were more than likely snowmobile riders.
It is more likely hunters. That area is popular with the local hunters and from what I've read the snowpack was not that great so it was probably not snowmobilers.
The owner of that lodge that said he cleared the road certainly should be in trouble. The guy was covering up for the fact that a road on his property that should have been clearly marked as dangerous was not.
I don't know if you saw that a lock on a gate on that road had been cut by vandals.
The gate was not in place.
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