Late decision before mudslide saved life of Wash. father
DARRINGTON, Wash. -- The search for victims continues in the mud in Oso, Wash., where at least 24 died when a hill gave way nine days ago. Thirty people are missing. Little more than chance determined who lived and who died.
The change in the weather revealed the beauty of the landscape, but the landslide has left no one here untouched. A late decision in the hours before the slide saved Steve Sconce.
"I went to my son's wrestling match instead," Sconce says.
Thirteen-year-old Jed had qualified for the state wrestling championships, so Sconce canceled plans to help fix the roof at the home of his friend, Billy Spillers.
Four-year-old Jacob Spillers, who was pulled from the mud by helicopter, is the only person at the house that day who survived.
At church on Sunday, Sconce spoke about how the close call had changed him -- and how the mudslide had changed everyone in the town.
There are 10 children in the Sconce family.
"I realized, wow, that could have been my husband," says Sconce's wife, Crystal. "And I'm grieving for a friend of mine whose husband was down working on a home and is no longer with us. And so every day, I look at him and just say, 'You're with me.'"
Jed came in second in the wrestling championships. He has a silver medal, but more importantly, he has a father.
