Missing And Presumed Lost

“I thought she was found with the car....”

“she was found at the car waving an umbrella.”

“The rule is never leave your vehicle...glad it worked for her and the kids...I wish her husband had stayed with them...sad sad sad..by the way, she waved her umbrella at a passing helicopter which saw her...”

“she was found in the car, but the news this morning did say that at first she grabbed her kids and wanted to go after her husband after he didn't return, she then realized she was too weak and walked back to the car.

like I said, lucky for her. I don't know what she was thinking when she tried that.”

“like I said, lucky for her. I don't know what she was thinking when she tried that.”


I have a friend who's answer to that question is "Obviously, I wasn't" I can entirely understand her impulse. My wife would not have let me go in the first place. But again, strange things happen in deprived conditions. He took some lighters they assume to try and start a fire if needed. I wonder why they didn't build a fire near the car in stead of burning their tires. The stench of burning rubber would have driven me bonkers.”

“The county where I live just finished GPSing all home addresses to be about the last (if not the last) county in Minnesota to put up street and signs and have 911 rural addressing.

At a recent commissioner meeting it was noted by the GIS coordinator and county highway engineer that, as they checked signs being placed, they've found supposed roads that really don't exist - yet they have street signs.

The county engineer noted that the townships get some road funding for these roads. So maybe that is why former roads show up as real roads on maps.

Always beware.

A friend and I just looked for a geocache in a remote area of the Pine Ridge Reservaton. Let me just say that what look to be roads on the SD DeLorme Atlas and Gazatteer turn into barely-there double-tracks that at times deadend at a farm yard or at a wide stream you can't cross.

It can be fun in the summer and good weather. But beware.... always beware.”

“CNN.com is reporting they have found a pair of pants that matches the description of the ones he was wearing. Nothing said about their condition. They are suggesting he could be marking his path.”

“yeah, I heard. I don't understand that at all. Shouldn't he be able to mark his path with something other then the little clothes he is/was wearing?”

“when you are hypothermic you hallucinate, often removing clothing because you think you are too warm.”

“Rescuers Find Pants of Missing Father
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,234419,00.html

Dang! I didn't even know ol' Nigal was missing or a father! ;-)”

“oh oh... he is dead.

When the body starts to freeze, the capillaries burst. A human will feel as if he is getting hot. People start ripping their clothing off.

And all this time I thought "frigid" in a woman was bad.”

“I dreamed last night that they found him alive. Weird.
I honestly doubt it though. I haven't heard anything today about his.”

“Very Sad,
I hope that they find him alive, but I heard that they saw bear tracks near the pants...

I can understand the wife wanting to go after him, though-- I think the instinct is that if you are afraid of dying, you'd rather be with your loved one than alone.

Of course, as the father and head of the household, he probably felt it was his duty to find a way out, since he got them lost in the woods...

And, about "unmarked" roads in the woods--My family and I learned not to follow "county roads" into the woods when we went up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan one summer and on our way to Muskallonge Lake State Park for a camping trip. We had just gotten a Mazda MPV that had a 4-wheel drive capabilities and I followed what I "thought" was a "shortcut" from point a to point b... It turned out to be a poorly maintained county road that was all dirt (and we ended up using that 4-wheel drive!) We drove for 2 hours and only saw 1 house on the side of the road during that time. Luckily, we had a full tank of gas and it was NOT raining, or we would have gotten stuck for sure...

I won't make that mistake again!”

“I have not seen any reports of bear tracks or any animal tracks for that matter. Nor was there any report about the condition of the pants. The last report I saw was they were hoping he had used the pants to mark the trail. Kind of a bizarre thing to do if you ask me. But no one has.”

“Sounds like an episode that I saw of "I shouldn't be alive" but it was only 1 kid and the guy made it out to get help. Note the "shouldn't" in the title of the show.”

“Maybe he is an ultralight hiker...and had a kilt? Sorry but I have to agree with all the hypothermia descriptions....If you must know from the medical reports they say death from hypothermia is not way up there on the BAD thing category. In the end you actually feel warm (though I did not know about the cappillaries busting thing, though that makes sense). I am wondering how much the "berries" he at prior to leaving will have to do with his behavior.

I was listening to them describe the area of the search...this is not a good thing.”

“Latest report this morning was that he had two pairs of pants. There is a report that he wore gray pants over a pair of jeans. The pants were found about a mile from where he had left the road. No reports of tracks or apparent struggle in the CNN.com video or text report.”

“Maybe the reports of bear tracks was wrong, but that is what I heard in my local news here in Detroit...”

“Pink...were they BARE tracks or Bear tracks....?”

“I read that the mom kept herself and the kids alive by melting snow, eating baby food, and breastfeeding both the kids. Good for her! Apparently while their cell phone didn't seem to get a signal, the rescuers were able to discern a weak signal from a tower in the area which helped them narrow their search to find the vehicle.”

“Latest report from CNN.com is that they have found other items of clothing that were taken with him. They have also found pieces of a torn up map. The speculation is that he was leaving markers. Perhaps he thought he was going in circles?

"The clothing, which was wet, included two gray sweat shirts, a red T-shirt, a sock and a blue girl's skirt, said Lt. Gregg Hastings of the Oregon State Patrol. Family members said Kim carried the items when he left." CNN.com

Two nights ago the had detected hot spots with the heat detectors.”

“sometimes people strip off items when they get hypothermia (thinking they're burning up), but maybe not in this case since these were "extra" clothes”

“Some of the clothes could be attributed to hypothermia. But the report also mentions pieces of an Oregon map torn up. I could understand doing that in frustration at the roadside. But in the wilds? Just an interesting twist.”

““yeah, but hey...there such things as christmas miracles ya know."
~Gem

Amen, Germ.”

“A friend and I just looked for a geocache in a remote area of the Pine Ridge Reservaton. Let me just say that what look to be roads on the SD DeLorme Atlas and Gazatteer turn into barely-there double-tracks that at times deadend at a farm yard or at a wide stream you can't cross.

It can be fun in the summer and good weather. But beware.... always beware.”


~lizs

Word! I took an exit off the interstate in MT that was on my US atlas that I woulda used 4wd on had I had it.

BWT -
I'm impressed that you got scarce in Pine Ridge. Heeby-jeeby city if you ask me!”

“They think they found his body. Unconfirmed though.”

“:-(”

“CNN.com is just reporting confirmation by law enforcement officials. The search is over. :?(”

“yeah just heard.....bummer”

“What stovey said.”

“that stinks”

“It's sad.”

“Hypothermia.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061207/ap_on_re_us/missing_family”

“no surprise there just very sad”

“I've been through more then a few of these and this one really bothered me. I think it's because I really expected them to find him alive. I should know by now, these things never turn out how you think they will.

My heart goes out to the family.

The SAR folks too.”

“SAR folks really need to be applauded. I can't imagine how devastated they must feel...”

“:(

I had hoped for the best, but feared the worst when I heard that he had started shedding clothes....”

“I had such a good feeling that they would find him alive. I really did belive in a little xmas miracle.

so so sad.”

“So terribly sad--It is too bad that he did not stay with his family-- but I can understand his need to "save them" vs. watching everyone suffer and lose their lives.

I pray for his wife and kids--he paid the ultimate sacrifice to help save his family.”

“http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/11/missing.climbers.ap/index.html

Is this any one from the site?”

“Dang...Oregon is taking em left and right...how long until we demand we pull Americans out of here?????”

“BTW, I noticed that this thread was created by Geezr - in case anyone was wondering, he and Weezr are doing great. I just got a Christmas card and letter from them, and they're healthy and thoroughly enjoying life on the Outer Banks....”

“i heard this this morning on NPR...what i don't understand is that if one of them had cell service why would the other two leave...wouldn't the best thing to do, if you had cell service, be to call and wait to be rescued?”