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The SAR Effort: Bungled or Undermined? Media and Official Reports Archive
The
Kims and Their Actions
Admirers of the Kims portrayed them as an intelligent, caring and attractive couple devoted to each other and their children. James was a product reviewer for CNET, an Internet-based trade journal that reports on Internet-related consumer gear: I-Pods, Palm Pilots and the like. A memorial to James Kim on the CNET website labeled him “family man, gadget fan.” In his reports, he would occasionally refer to his children in connection with some gadgets, particular his older daughter, Penelope. The Kims owned two boutiques in San Francisco, and his wife, Kati, managed them. By all accounts, they were happily married. The Kims were familiar with Oregon and its winter weather. Kati Kim had met James while she was a student at the University of Oregon in Eugene, and they had lived together there for six months while she finished her studies. The Kims moved from Eugene to San Francisco, while maintaining ties to friends and family in Oregon and Seattle, where the Kims spent Thanksgiving. The month of November 2006 was unusual even for the rainy Pacific Northwest. By the time the Kims reached Seattle to celebrate Thanksgiving, Seattle had broken the official all-time record for rain in one month. There had been flooding in parts of the city, and TV and newspapers were anticipating that an unofficial and even higher all-time record would be broken before the end of the month. As the Kims left Seattle on Friday, Nov. 24, a major winter storm was forecast for the region. Unlike the prior storms that month, the approaching storm included a cold front and forecasters said it would include snow. On Saturday, Nov. 25, a half-inch of rain fell. It was Portland’s wettest November in history. James Kim had appointments scheduled in San Francisco on the following Tuesday, Nov. 28. They were planning to spend Saturday night in Gold Beach, a town in the far southwest corner of Oregon just north of the California border. From there, they were going to spend Sunday driving to Mendocino, a scenic town in Northern California, where they would stay overnight. On Monday, they would drive back to San Francisco. This writer has made the same trip many times, and is familiar with the route and timing of the drive. As you will see below, the schedule of this drive likely played a significant, and possibly determinative, role in the events that unfolded. In short, the 300-mile drive from Portland to Gold Beach, which the Kims planned for Nov. 25, is longer than the mileage would indicate. It takes at least 6 hours if done along the main routes typically used by travelers. This does not include breaks for rest, restrooms, fuel, meals and sidetrips. Similarly, the 300-mile drive from Gold Beach to Mendocino, planned for Nov. 26, takes at least six hours not including stops. Mendocino to San Francisco, a 155-mile drive planned for Nov. 27, takes at least four hours not including stops. The only significant realistic alteration in the schedule would be to substitute Crescent City, CA for Gold Beach, CA on Nov. 25-26, which would have little impact on Nov. 25’s travel time while cutting about an hour for Nov. 26’s travel time. The Kims’ vehicle, a 2005 Saab 2X station wagon, had a highway range of 450 miles. On Nov. 25, with Mr. Kim at the wheel, they traveled about 275 miles – stopping about 90 miles into their journey to refill their tank – before coming to rest in the early hours of the following morning on an unpaved road in the remote and rugged Rogue Wilderness of southwest Oregon. To get there, the Kims had missed several chances to take safe and familiar roads. Instead, they chose an obscure combination of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management roads, ignoring two warnings on a map and four posted on large yellow signs. When they became stuck in snow on that route, they decided not to return to an Interstate highway less than 30 miles away but instead to drive farther into the wilderness along an unmarked, unpaved road. The Kims did these things late at night while carrying two young children, no emergency supplies and scant winter clothing. After resting overnight, they chose not to drive back the way they came but rather to stay where they were. While in the car, the Kims burned the remainder of their fuel to keep themselves and their children warm. The Kims Leave Portland: Contradictory Accounts Reports about the Kims’ departure from Portland are contradictory and confusing. A version based on eyewitness testimony by people who encountered the Kims along their route had the family leaving Portland at about noon. The version told to authorities by Mrs. Kim had the family leaving Portland at 5 p.m. We will examine both versions. While the search was underway, media accounts quoted Mark Ottenad, the executive director of the Wilsonville Chamber of Commerce, which operates a visitor center along Interstate 5 located 19 miles south of Portland, saying that the Kims had stopped there between noon and 1:30 p.m. Mr. Ottenad said that one of his employees had told him that she had spoken with the Kims and had given them an official Oregon Department of Transportation (“ODOT”) highway map. A second tourist center employee who had not spoken with the Kims recognized the family from television broadcasts. According to Ottenad and the employee who had dealt with the family, Mr. Kim inquired about scenic routes to the coast, and was advised not to use Forest Service roads to the coast. Other Oregon highway officials interviewed separately said that they discourage use of back roads during winter. The employee who had dealt with the Kims contacted state police after seeing the Kims’ photographs on television. The employee was reinterviewed by a Portland Police Department detective, Michael Weinstein, who obtained a replica of the map given to the Kims with the routes to the coast that the employee had highlighted. After Kati Kim and her children were rescued on Dec. 4, she told authorities that they had left Portland at 5 p.m. and had never stopped at the Wilsonville tourist center. Shortly thereafter, the Oregon State Police (“OSP”) issued a statement saying that the tourist center’s account had been wrong, and that the Kim had not stopped at the Wilsonville center. An OSP spokesman told an Internet website that the OSP had accepted Mrs. Kim’s version at face value, and had not attempted to reconcile the two versions. Nevertheless, Mrs. Kim’s version was contradicted by a chronology of events released Jan. 5, 2007 by the Oregon governor’s office, and by a report issued Jan. 18 by the Oregon State Sheriff’s Association. On Jan. 22, 2007, we spoke to Mr. Ottenad, who reconfirmed to us what he had told various media. In our conversation, he verified the timing of the Kims’ stop at the visitor center, the identity of the family and the content of the conversation between the Kims and the employee. While investigators did not reconcile the two versions, they did say that gas receipts and phone records showed that the Kims refueled their car just before 6 p.m. in Halsey, a town located 88 miles south of Portland and 70 miles south of Wilsonville along I-5. While they were in Halsey, the Kims used a cellphone to reconfirm a reservation they had made earlier that afternoon at the TuTuTun Lodge near Gold Beach. The records support Mrs. Kim’s claim to have left the Portland area near 5 p.m. -- between 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., actually -- while contradicting the accounts from the Wilsonville center’s executive director and employees. Moreover, if the Kims had stopped at the Wilsonville center, there would have been a 3- to 4-hour gap between that location and their refueling stop, which is located a little more than an hour south of the tourist center. Running Late: The Kims Stop At Halsey, Oregon Regardless of which version is correct, it is beyond dispute that a 6 p.m. stop in Halsey made the Kims quite late for their destination at Gold Beach. They still had 225 miles to travel, a journey of at least five hours not including stops. Indeed, when they called the lodge from Halsey, the Kims asked that a key be left for them because they would be late. From there, they drove south to the town of Roseburg, stopping for dinner at a Denny’s restaurant along I-5. Along the way, they missed their first chance to take a major route to the coast -- Oregon Hwy. 38, which runs from I-5 just south of Eugene to Reedsport, where it intersects with U.S. 101, a major highway running the length of the Oregon coast. After the family left the Denny’s restaurant at about 9:30 p.m., they had a choice of two standard routes to the coast and one risky one. The standard routes are Oregon Hwy. 42 and U.S. Hwy. 199, each of which connects I-5 to U.S. Hwy. 101. A logical driver, particularly one who was running late, would choose Hwy. 42, to avoid a 54-mile backtrack to Gold Beach from Hwy. 199’s coastal outlet at Crescent City, California. In fact, Mrs. Kim told authorities after her rescue that they had planned to take Hwy. 42, but changed the plan after they missed an exit from I-5. It is unclear when the Kims realized they had missed the Hwy. 42 exit, but she later told authorities that they had not wanted to turn back to the route. Instead, they kept driving for an hour to the town of Merlin, where travelers can reach a combination of back roads running through the Rogue Wilderness to the coastal town of Gold Beach. Local residents consider this route hazardous for its narrow path, poorly maintained pavement, confusing signage, steep dropoffs and sharp curves. In an interview conducted Jan. 15, Mrs. Kim described sitting in a gas station in Merlin, checking the ODOT map and deciding to take the back-road route. The map showed the route as a solid black line, which the map legend identified as the lowest grade of paved road; major roads in Oregon are depicted in red or green. The ODOT map carries two warnings applicable to the Kims. One is a box with an arrow pointing to the Kims’ route, containing the red-letter warning, “This route closed in winter.” A second warning is not specific. In red letters, it reads, “Make local inquiry of road conditions in remote areas. Some roads are impassable following severe weather conditions.” Only after they had been stranded in the wilderness for several days did the Kims notice a warning on the map. Mrs. Kim recalled reading the words, “Not all roads advisable. Check weather conditions.” That warning language is not part of the ODOT map, pieces of which James Kim had left as clues for investigators as he tried to walk out of the wilderness. Thus, either Mrs. Kim’s recollection of the wording is flawed, or the family had more than one map in their car. At the gas station in Merlin, Mrs. Kim said her husband went inside and was given confusing information. Nevertheless, she told investigators that she felt no one had communicated that their route was dangerous. Conditions were dry at the time, she said. Media reports said that a mixture of rain and snow was falling in the area. Into the Wilderness The couple proceeded along the route shown on the ODOT map, which starts on Merlin Galice Road and connects to Bear Camp Road. As they drove the route, they passed four large yellow signs warning that it “may be blocked by snowdrifts.” Though Mrs. Kim told authorities that conditions were dry, a sheriff’s deputy was quoted in the Jan. 18 Sheriff’s Association report saying that he had driven the route two days earlier and that snow was visible along Bear Camp Road. About 14 miles from where they entered Bear Camp Road and 27 miles from I-5, the Kims reached an intersection. To the right was a logging road. To the left, Bear Camp Road continued toward their destination, as indicated by signs showing the mileage to Gold Beach and two stops along the way. A few dozen feet behind the mileage sign stood the fourth warning sign on their route, stating “Road May Be Blocked By Snowdrifts 6 Miles Ahead.” The Kims went left. At that point, Mrs. Kim told authorities, the dry conditions abruptly turned to heavy snowfall. Thinking that the crest of the road would be near and then they could proceed downhill to the coast, they kept climbing until becoming stuck in snow. At that point, Mr. Kim carefully backed down the narrow road, being afraid to turn the car around. When they reached the intersection they had passed on the way there, snow continued to fall. They used their three cellphones to try to make 911 calls, but got no signal. Rather than use the wide intersection to turn their car around and proceed back to I-5, the Kims decided to take the logging road. That decision, which ultimately led to their becoming stranded, has been the subject of much confusion due to erroneous reporting by virtually every media outlet that covered the story. One error concerned a gate at the intersection, which by Bureau of Land Management regulation was supposed to be locked in early November. Several media outlets, including Fox News and CNN, reported that a lock had been cut, making vandals responsible for the Kims’ detour. Subsequent reports determined that BLM hadn’t closed the gate in 2006, and in fact that the agency’s employees had rarely, if ever, closed it. Another widely reported error concerned the road signs at the intersection, which are considered confusing and have led many travelers to take the logging road by mistake. For that reason, the media reported that inaccurate signs had lured the Kims onto the logging road. In fact, they had correctly interpreted the signs on their route and decided to abandon Bear Camp Road for the logging road. According to Mrs. Kim, they elected to take the logging road because it dips downward from the intersection, and as a result that believed it would lead to a lower altitude and out of the snow. By contrast, she said, they were afraid that if they turned around and went back toward I-5, the snow that was now falling would make the drive hazardous. They drove along the unpaved logging road for 21 miles, periodically stopping to remove rocks. Mrs. Kim told authorities that they realized that they were disoriented and decided to rest and try to find their way in the morning light. When they awoke on the morning of Nov. 26, it was raining. Rather than drive back the way they came, the Kims decided to stay where they were. Mrs. Kim told authorities that they did this because they were afraid they’d be stuck in snow at higher altitudes. They had seen a snowplow parked by the side of Bear Camp Road on their way up, and believed they’d be discovered by people plowing the roads. They even believed they could hear a plow in the distance, a sound they would later realize was the rushing of water in a nearby river. For the rest of the week, the Kims stayed with their car, conserved resources and continually tried to attract attention through various signaling devices, including attempting to make cell phone calls and eventually burning all five of their car’s tires. As their situation grew more desperate, they took desperate measures. Mrs. Kim breast-fed not only her infant but her four-year-old, and eventually Mr. Kim set off in search of help. Lightly clad, he retraced the car’s route along the logging road for several miles. But then he made a detour into a ravine that leads to a creek where his body was eventually found. Along the way, he left pieces of clothing and bits of his map as signals for rescuers, who arrived too late. Questions and Contradictions Was this the Kims’ first trip on Bear Camp Road? Mrs. Kim told authorities that they proceeded up Bear Camp Road in the snow, past the fourth warning sign, because they believed the crest of the road was just ahead. The observation suggests prior knowledge of the route. An Oregon resident, Bob Hollenbeck, wrote on a message board that someone “down south” had told him that the Kims had taken Bear Camp Road at a previous time, but Mr. Hollenbeck declined to answer further inquiries about his statement. Did the Kims ever intend to use Hwy. 42? Mrs. Kim describes having missed the turnoff to Hwy. 42. In fact, local residents say that main turnoff is advertised by a series of prominent signs along I-5, making it difficult to miss. Travelers who miss the main turnoff have several more opportunities to make short backtracks to Hwy. 42. Mrs. Kim told authorities that they drove 60 miles to Merlin before checking their map for alternative routes. As it should happen, their alternative started right there. Was it a coincidence, or did the Kims intend to use the back country route from the beginning? How did they spend the afternoon of Nov. 25? The tourist center employee’s specific recollection of meeting the Kims and providing them with scenic routes from I-5 convinces us that the family stopped there early in the afternoon. It is an hour’s drive on I-5 from the tourist center to the gas station where the Kims refueled their car four or five hours later. Did they stop to visit a friend after getting maps and advice in Wilsonville? Did they tour any of the wineries in the nearby Willamette Valley wine country? What made the Kims arrive in Halsey so late in the day? What about the snow? Mrs. Kim told investigators that conditions were dry as they climbed Bear Camp Road late on the night of Nov. 25, and that the first snow they encountered began falling suddenly after they passed a sign warning of possible snowdrifts six miles ahead. They soon became stuck and backed down the road, and by the time they reached the logging road intersection it was snowing so heavily that they thought it would be too hazardous to retrace their route back to I-5. If conditions had been dry until they had gotten there, as Mrs. Kim claimed, snow wouldn’t have been falling long enough to make the drive back to I-5 hazardous. It is more likely that the Kims encountered heavy snow well before approaching the fourth warning sign. Only then would there have been any logic to seeking a lower route by taking the logging road, which at the intersection with Bear Camp Road appears to go lower. The argument between James and Kati Kim. In her Jan. 15 interview with authorities, Mrs. Kim recounts that, after they became stranded, she blamed her husband for getting the family in their predicament. Did James Kim take the mountain route over his wife’s objections? Did he delay their departure from Portland? Shortly after we completed this narrative, someone identifying himself as Scott Nelson Windels, a friend of Kati Kim’s who has raised money on her behalf, claimed that the Kims had brunch in Portland at 2 p.m., and then visited at least one boutique there before leaving. Accounting for time spent at one or more boutiques, Mr. Windels’ story would account for the missing time, and be consistent with Mrs. Kim’s statements to authorities that they left Portland at 5 p.m., and did not stop in Wilsonville. Mr. Windels claimed to have received an e-mail from a boutique attesting to the visit, but declined to name the boutique or furnish a copy of the e-mail. Therefore, we continue to believe that the Kims left Portland early on the afternoon of Nov. 25, and that there is an unexplained gap of three or four hours in accounts of their activities that day. We do not believe that Mrs. Kim has been completely forthcoming with authorities. We hope Mrs. Kim will explain the evident contradictions in her accounts of the events of the period. A Speculation The events of Nov. 25-26 must be separated into four categories: 1. Facts established by records and events 2. Likelihood based on logic emanating from #1 3. Plausible speculation based on #1 and #2 4. Sheer guesswork This is the only section of our narrative where we depart from proven facts and logic emanating from them. We want to stay away sheer guesswork to the greatest extent possible, and to limit any #3 to the reasonable. In any case, we want to emphasize that the following is a speculation about what might have happened. We are not presenting it as a definitive or factual account. On Nov. 25th, the Kims get up relatively early in Portland. They have brunch with their friend at 10 a.m. or so. The Jan. 18 Sheriff’s Association report mentioned brunch at 10 a.m. in the timeline, and "morning" on page 6 of the timeline. Moreover, in our experience, kids don't sleep in. They're usually up bright and early, especially the four-year-old. Scott Nelson Windels posted that the Kims finished brunch at 2 p.m., but we doubt small children would sit still for four hours. We figure that brunch ends at 11:30 or so, and that the Kims stop at Wilsonville between noon and 12:30. This would match the recollection of the employee who gave them the highway map and coastal brochure, and of the second employee who recognized the Kims but did not speak with them. It would also match the one employee’s recollection of a discussion of "scenic routes" with Mr. Kim; it would have been light out and therefore a discussion of scenic routes would have made sense at that time of day. Like others of its type, the Wilsonville information center is stocked with dozens of brochures. We speculate that, as James Kim talks with the one employee, Kati and the kids wander around the racks. She picks up other flyers, including one or more advertising the wineries in the North Willamette Valley. James is on record being a wine lover, and Oregon is known for its pinot noir production in particular. We speculate that the Kims look at the brochures either out in their car or just before they leave the tourist center, and that when Mr. Kim spots the winery brochure he wants to visit one. But Kati, having spent four years in Oregon as a student, says, "James, we really don't have the time." James Kim wins that argument, and they go off in search of wineries. Along the way, Mr. Kim uses a cellphone make a reservation at TuTuTun. The wineries of the North Willamette Valley are located between Wilsonville and Halsey, about 20 miles west of Interstate 5. The Kims spend more time at the wineries than either of them had intended to, but especially more time than Kati had intended. It’s dusk by the time they got back on I-5 heading south, and it’s dark as they refuel in Halsey at 6 p.m. They haven’t even made it as far as Eugene; they’re a good five hours or more from Gold Beach, not including stops. Kati’s not happy when she calls the TuTuTun Lodge to tell them to leave a key by their door. “We’ll be lucky to be there by 1 a.m.,” we can imagine her saying. James replies, “Not to worry. Did you see that road from Grant's Pass? It goes straight there.” They decide to take the route without studying the map; all they notice is the black line depicting the route, not lingering long enough to read the winter driving warning. We speculate that James Kim doesn’t worry about the caution from the employee against using the back roads, taking it to be an obligatory warning that doesn’t have to be taken too seriously. “I've been on the back roads from Eugene to Florence,” Kati might have said. “This will be no different.” They have dinner in Roseburg, and when they get back onto I-5 at about 9:30 they ignore the turnoff to Hwy. 42. According to locals, the turnoff is well-marked and, if missed, can easily be reached by a short backtrack. Once they get to the wilderness route, Kati sees that it’s much more rugged and remote than the Eugene-Florence route she’d been imagining. “Damn it, James, we can't do this,” she says, as snow falls hard along their route. “Let's just turn around and stop for the night along I-5. “ “The hell we will,” James Kim replies. “We've prepaid $250 for the room. Not only that, but we've got to drive to Mendocino tomorrow and that one’s a real pain. 101 and Hwy. 1 twist and turn like crazy, and you go 15 miles an hour along a lot of it. Let’s just do this and get there.” As they pass the fourth sign located just past the logging road intersection, Mr. Kim says, “You're right, this is bad. I better turn around.” At that point, having noticed how narrow the road was on the way up, Kati Kim replies, “If you turn around we could go over the edge. You’re going to have to back down.” Mr. Kim slowly backs down the road until they reach the intersection with the logging road. Along the way, he has to open his car door to see through the swirling snow. At the intersection it’s snowing hard, and they're both feeling a bit panicky. Now Kati Kim steps in. “This is a fine mess you've gotten us into,” she says to her husband. “Look, that other road goes lower. We can at least get out of the snow, and maybe we can find our way to Gold Beach.” James Kim takes the road, figuring they can get to the coast. In fact, they barely even get through all the snowdrifts. After another 20 miles they're hopelessly lost. They're exhausted, too, so they decide to call it a night and get some sleep. They get up the next day in the rain. Kati Kim recalls seeing a snowplow on their way up Bear Camp Road. The Kims get out of the car and think they hear a plow in the distance (later, they realize it was rushing water). “If it's raining down here, it's snowing like hell up there,” we imagine James Kim saying. “So we'd better wait until the plows get down here and they lead us out.” That never happens. By the time they've spent a few more days in the car, Mrs. Kim is angry at her husband for getting them into this situation, possibly including the detour to the wineries. We imagine a car full of hungry, rattled and fearful occupants. The kids are crying, the wife is yelling. So James Kim goes off in search of help, and winds up dying. When the survivors are rescued and the police question Kati Kim about the ordeal, we speculate that she omits the Wilsonville stop and the winery detour because of how it would look. After all, they were warned against using the back roads. Being so late on account of visiting wineries might make everyone think we were a pair of irresponsible yuppies, Mrs. Kim thinks. We imagine her telling the police that they left Portland late; that they missed Hwy. 42; that they sort of blundered into all of this. Much of that story would have been true. The Kims did blunder into it, and they were late. But, if our speculation is accurate, it wouldn’t be whole story. The Kims did nothing felonious or immoral, but they were negligent. Such things happen, but the kicker is that there were kids in the car with them and that makes it less excusable. Which might be why Kati Kim doesn't want to talk about the whole story. Once again, we need to be clear that we are speculating. There could be other explanations as to why the Kims left Portland late. Scott Nelson Windels, their friend, wrote that it was because they didn't end brunch until 2 p.m. and then went to boutiques. A poster on an Internet website speculated that the Wilsonville sighting was of a different couple consisting of a white woman, an Asian man and two young children. The employee who identified them as the Kims did so because “all Asians look alike,” the poster speculated. To us, that's a stretch. We believe the Kims stopped in Wilsonville. They might have done so later than we think and/or stopped not at wineries but somewhere else -- perhaps to see a different friend, or to do some Christmas shopping at an outlet mall along the highway. But if it were a friend or a mall, why conceal it? That's one of the reasons we’re speculating about wineries. But in the final analysis, it's impossible to know. Kati Kim knows what happened, and we suspect some of her friends know what happened. But we’re not sure anyone else will ever know. Why haven't the police pursued the answers to these questions? Two reasons. First, no crime was committed. Second, Mrs. Kim is an attractive young woman, recently widowed with children, the subject of a torrent of sympathetic media coverage. If the police pursued the contradictions, it might look “cruel.” So, from their point of view, it might be better to let sleeping dogs lie. What should the Kims have done? What was their biggest error? Regardless of whether our speculation about wineries or other stops is accurate, we’d say the die was cast at 6 p.m. on Nov. 25 in Halsey, when the Kims reconfirmed their hotel reservation in Gold Beach. They should have called the hotel -- to cancel. Then they should have taken I-5 to Grant’s Pass, and U.S. 199 to Crescent City, California. They’d have been in Crescent City by midnight. They’d have been late, but with a head start on the next day’s drive to Mendocino. Why didn’t they cancel? Two possibilities. One might be that they both really wanted to see the Oregon coast in the morning. More likely is that TuTuTun, like many luxury resorts, has a two-week cancellation policy. The bottom line may well be that, on the night of Nov. 25, 2006, James and Kati Kim were penny-wise and pound foolish, losing one life and putting three others at grave risk.
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