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James Kim

2011-02-04 10:20:49

James Kim (August 9, 1971 December 3 4, 2006) was an American television personality and technology analyst for the former TechTV international cable television network, reviewing products for shows including The Screen Savers, Call for Help, and Fresh Gear. He most recently worked as a senior editor of MP3 and Digital Audio for CNET, writing more than 400 product reviews. He also co-hosted a weekly video podcast for CNET's gadget blog, Crave, and a weekly audio podcast, The MP3 Insider (both podcasts were co-hosted with Veronica Belmont).

His disappearance and death, and his family's ordeal, made them the subject of a brief but intense period of news coverage in December 2006.

Snowbound

After spending the 2006 Thanksgiving holiday in Seattle, Washington, the Kims (James, Kati, and their two daughters, Penelope and Sabine) set out for their home in San Francisco, California. On Saturday, November 25, 2006, having left Portland, Oregon on their way to Tu Tu Tun Lodge, a resort located near Gold Beach, Oregon, the Kims missed a turnoff from Interstate 5 to Oregon Route 42, a main route to the Oregon Coast. Instead of returning to the exit, they consulted a highway map and picked a secondary route that skirted the Wild Rogue Wilderness, a remote area of southwestern Oregon.

After encountering heavy snow at high elevation on Bear Camp Road, they turned, by mistake, onto one of hundreds of unpaved logging roads loosely supervised by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). A road gate which was supposed to prevent such mistakes was open in spite of BLM rules requiring that it be closed. Media outlets reported that vandals had cut a lock on the gate, but a subsequent investigation showed that BLM employees had left it open to avoid trapping local hunters and others who might have ventured past it.[5]

Early on the morning of November 26, the family stopped due to fatigue and bad weather. As more snow fell around their immobilized Saab 9-2X station wagon, the Kims kept warm by running its engine. When the vehicle ran out of fuel, they made a campfire of dried wood and magazines. Later, they burned their car's tires to signal rescuers. Search efforts began shortly after November 30, when coworkers of Kim filed a missing persons report with the San Francisco Police Department.[6] After investigators learned that the Kims used their credit card at a local restaurant, search and rescue teams, including local and state police, more than 80 civilian volunteers, the Oregon Army National Guard and several helicopters hired by Mr. Kim's father Spencer Kim spent several days looking for the family along area highways and roads, to no avail.

On December 2, James Kim left his family to look for help, wearing tennis shoes, a jacket, and light clothing. He believed the nearest town (Galice) was located four miles away after studying a map with his wife.[7] He promised his wife he would turn back the same day if he failed to find anyone, but he did not return.[8]

Although the Kims had a cellular phone with them, their remote location in the mountains was out of range of the cellular network, rendering the phone unusable for voice calls. Little did they know that, despite being unusable for voice calls, their cell phone would play a key role in their rescue. Cell phone text messages may go through even when there appears to be no signal, in part because text messaging is a store-and-forward service. Two Edge Wireless engineers, Eric Fuqua and Noah Pugsley, contacted search and rescue authorities offering their help in the search. On Saturday, December 2, they began searching through the data logs of cell sites, trying to find records of repeaters to which the Kims' cellphone may have connected. They discovered that on November 26, 2006 at around 1:30 a.m., the Kim's cellphone made a brief automatic connection to a cell site near Glendale, Oregon, and retrieved two text messages. Through the data logs, the engineers determined that the cell phone was in a specific area

west of the cellular tower. They then used a computer program to determine which areas in the mountains were within a line-of-sight to the cellular tower. This narrowed the search area tremendously, and finally focused rescue efforts on Bear Camp Road.[9]

On the afternoon of December 4, John Rachor, a local helicopter pilot unaffiliated with any formal search effort, spotted Mrs. Kim and her two daughters walking on a remote road. After he radioed the family's position to authorities, the three were airlifted out of the area and transferred to a nearby hospital.[10]

Law enforcement officials said that the discovery of the cellphone connection, and the subsequent analysis of the log data, was the critical breakthrough that ultimately resulted in the rescue of Kim's wife and daughters by helicopter.[9]

Death

Officials continued to search for Mr. Kim, at one point finding clothing that he had discarded along the way in the likely belief that he was too hot; paradoxical undressing being one of the symptoms of hypothermia. Optimistic Oregon officials stated, "These were placed with our belief that little signs are being left by James for anyone that may be trying to find him so that they can continue into the area that he's continuing to move in."[11]

On Wednesday, December 6 at 12:03 p.m., Mr. Kim's body was found in Big Windy Creek.[12][13] (42 38′44″N 123 43′25″W / 42.645575 N 123.723575 W / 42.645575; -123.723575 (Location of Kim's Body)) Lying on his back in one to two feet of icy water, he was fully clothed and had been carrying a backpack which contained his identification documents, among other miscellaneous items.[14] He had walked about 16.2 miles (26 km) from the car to that point, and was only a mile from Black Bar Lodge, which, although closed for the winter, was fully-stocked at the time. An autopsy revealed that Kim had died due to hypothermia and that his body had suffered no incapacitating physical injuries. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy guessed that Kim had died roughly two days after leaving the vehicle.[14][15]

Route

Because of Mr. Kim's background as a technology analyst, observers speculated that the family had used online mapping to find their route.[16] However, Mrs. Kim told state police that they had used a paper road map,[17] an account supported by the Oregon State Police, which reported that the Kims had used an official State of Oregon highway map.[18] Mrs. Kim later recounted that, after they had been stuck for four days and were studying the map for help, both she and Mr. Kim noticed that a box in the corner of the map bore the message: "Not all Roads Advisable, Check Weather Conditions."[19]

Bear Camp Road is lightly used between October and April, even by local residents, due to its difficult terrain, spotty maintenance, steep drop offs and often inclement weather.[20] As they drove along the road, the Kims passed three prominent warning signs that state: "Bear Camp Rd. May Be Blocked By Snowdrifts."[21] Mrs. Kim later told police that they had noticed only one warning sign.