quote: MERLIN, Oregon (CNN) -- The body of a San Francisco man who had walked into the Oregon wilderness to summon help for his stranded family was found Wednesday in a steep ravine where he had left clues for searchers.
Officials confirmed that James Kim, 35, an editor at the Web site CNET, had been found dead.
Brian Anderson, Undersheriff of Josephine County, broke down and could not finish speaking as he announced that Kim's body was found at 3:03 p.m. ET.
The family took a bunch of wrong turns down old logging roads on their way to vacation and got horribly lost during a snowstorm. The roads are often used in the summer by White Water rafters, but during the Winter they go unplowed. They stayed together for a few days, burning the tires of their car to stay warm. The father, James Kim, took off into the wilderness with makeshift snowshoes and the clothes on his back, which weren't weather appropriate. The mother kept their two young daughters alive by breast feeding both of them, aged I believe 7 months and four years.
The family was found by the car a couple days ago, alive. The father's body was found today just after noon local time (3pm EST). I watched it live, the Sheriff couldn't get past his first six words, and it got to me a bit too. They tried so hard to find this guy, and they really, REALLY cared about it. He wasn't just some nameless, faceless guy out there who got lost and it was their JOB to find him, he's someone they care about, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters who care about fellow humans because they are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. There's just something about the fact that they care about him without knowing who he is, and how personally they felt his loss that gets to me.
If some sort of charity ends up being set up in the name of the family, I might pick up an extra shift at work to send them some money. They lost their father, who died braving the elements to try and save his family, and the men and women who tried to find him lost their battle against time and the elements. Such sacrifices deserved to be honored.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Very intelligent thinking on the mother's part. I feel terrible for the man, hikers go missing up in the mountains of Utah literally every year half of me gets mad that they could be so foolish, but half of me wonders if there might be circumstances where the same thing could happen to me.
Hopefully they might consider revising the road signs so that nobody makes the same mistake.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I got the feeling there was heavy fog, and a heavy snowstorm at the time, which means they probably couldn't see the signs if there were any.
The Oregon Department of Transportation's maps declared the roads closed, but not Rand McNally's maps. No one is sure what maps they were using.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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I've been following this story for days and I'm really at a loss for words. I hope I'm never in a life or death situation like. He gave his life trying to save his family, to me that shows what kind of person he is and I am sad his children won't have a father growing up. May he RIP.
Posts: 796 | Registered: Mar 2005
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He had promised to turn back if he hadn't found anyone by a set timeperiod. In the process, he most likely became lost, perhaps due to hypothermic confusion.
The whole thing is a terrible tragedy. I'm hearing the story from so many people who knew and worked with him, and it's just put them beyond words.
Apparently, the car was discovered by a helicopter search team that had been hired privately by the family to bolster attempts at rescue.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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They had been stuck for 11 days though. That's the ultimate dilemma. If you stay with your family til the end, maybe you all live, maybe you all die. If you go, maybe you live and they die, they live and you die, or your gamble pays off and they live because you left them.
If I ever get stuck in a snowstorm, I want to be stuck alone.
Posts: 866 | Registered: Dec 2003
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Stuck in a snowstorm... they burned tires? Wasn't there wood around? Hmm... still they were pretty smart about the other stuff they did. That's a tough situation. I feel really sorry for the family Poor kids...
Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Alcon, if you're trying to stay warm AND trying to get someone to notice you, and your surrounded by a bunch of wet wood, without the clothes really requred to romp around in the snow to find wet wood buried in snow, or the tools to fell a tree, isn't burning tires the best idea? Tire fires put out HUGE amounts of smoke, and gives them a much better chance of being seen than a little bonfire.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Yeah, I followed this story, too. And said a prayer for the father when the family was found. I think everyone in the situation did the best they could, and that the father died as he did trying to help his family was just terribly, terribly sad. I hope the mother doesn't blame herself for her husband's death.
When I heard how long the father had been gone, spending several nights in sub-freezing temperatures, I didn't hold out much hope. Still, the confirmation was sad.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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It feels like he was a beloved Oregonian. We're all so sad that he didn't make it.
Word has it that the road they took is usually gated and locked during the winter (I've seen many roads like that), but vandals had taken the locks and left the gates open. Even crappier.
On the map that road looks like a good shortcut. It really made all of us up here rethink our survival preparations. It's such a high price for that family though. Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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