Cops: Kims Stuck On Road Opened By Vandals

Authorities Say Someone Cut The Lock, Opening Mountain Road Where Family Ended Up Stranded

(CBS/AP)  Authorities in Oregon say the road that James Kim and his family were on when they got stranded is normally blocked by a locked gate during the cold-weather months.

But they say a vandal had cut the lock, leaving the road accessible.

The family was stranded for more than week with little food after driving for 15 miles past the gate.

Kim was found dead on Wednesday, five days after setting out for help, while his wife and two children were airlifted out. He died of hypothermia near a fishing lodge stacked with food, authorities said.

Kim, 35, had no way of knowing about the Black Bar Lodge. His body was found in shallow water feeding Big Windy Creek, about a mile away from the lodge, where he could have found shelter, warmth and enough food for months, authorities said Thursday.

Authorities say the gate is locked in the winter so people don't go down the road. It is locked on Nov. 1, after the end of deer hunting season.

Searchers looking for the Kims discovered the gate was open, and officials say an investigation is under way to find out who cut the lock.

A medical examiner said Thursday he could not determine exactly when James Kim died.

"James Kim did nothing wrong," Oregon state police Lt. Gregg Hastings said. "He was trying to save his family."

Searchers found the body of the 35-year-old online editor on Wednesday, two days after rescuing Kati Kim and daughters, Penelope, 4, and Sabine, 7 months, from the car they had used as shelter for more than a week in Oregon's snowy coastal mountains.

"I wish Mr. Kim would have found the place," Black Bear Lodge owner John James said. "It would have been a beautiful ending to a sad story."

On Saturday morning, Dec. 2, James Kim decided to go for help. He thought a small town was just four miles away, but he had guessed his location wrong. The town was 15 miles away, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone.

The Kims had driven from San Francisco to Seattle for Thanksgiving and were on their way home. They planned to spend the night of Nov. 25 at a luxury lodge outside Gold Beach on the coast.

Driving south on Interstate 5, the Kims had missed the turnoff to the coast and instead drove through the Siskiyou National Forest.

They passed signs warning that Bear Camp Road may be blocked by snow, but kept going. At times, James had to stick his head out the window to see through the falling snow, said Hastings.

They descended into a confusing warren of logging roads.

By the time they turned around, they were 15 miles off Bear Camp Road and stopped where they hoped to be spotted from the air, fearing they were running out of gas, searchers said.

Kati Kim told investigators they stopped at 2 a.m. Nov. 26, but could get no cell phone service. They stayed in the car as it snowed and rained for three days.

They had only baby food, jelly and bottled water, Hastings said. When the bottled water ran out, they melted snow. When the food ran out, Kati Kim nursed the children.

On the eighth day, James Kim decided to look for help. His wife told investigators he thought he was just four miles down the Rogue River from the community of Galice. It was closer to 15, but he felt he could follow the river to find help.

Kim had walked five miles up a road, then five more miles down rugged Big Windy Creek. Despite his long hike, he was only a mile from the car, which was near the road to the lodge.

When Kim's body was found Wednesday, it ended a search that had become personal for many of those working on it, reports Blackstone.

That was clear when Undersheriff Brian Anderson stepped to the microphones with bad news.

"At 12:03 today, the body of James Kim was located down in the big windy creek ... uhhhh," and Anderson walked away, tearful.

On Thursday, the Kim house — with its cheery, red garage door and window sills, perched up a small hill — stood dark and empty in San Francisco's Noe Valley neighborhood.

A few blocks away, a sign outside Church Street Apothecary, one of the Kims' two boutiques, read: "We will be closed for a few days. Please respect our privacy."

Below the sign, scores of flowers, cards and candles conveyed warm wishes from neighbors.

"Your dad is a hero. Your dad is a great, kind man. He will always love you very much," said a handmade card written in a child's scrawl, signed by "Malia."

[catt42701]

To the person that cut the lock. I hope they catch you and hold you up to the public as an irresponsible person. You did not think of what could happen to others as a consequence of your actions so you are also immature. Hopefully your example will prevent others from committing like actions. If the only people ever caught in those types of situations were the ones who had been taught to survive them then there would be fewer, not none, but fewer deaths of that nature.

[juranply]

To: newster1
Your commets:
The balloons, stuffed animals, cards and flowers outside the Kim's house will be swept up and removed, the wife will get life insurance money from his workplace, and move onward and forward.
The two kids will someday look back at photos of a stranger they won't really remember and didn't really know and move on as well.
Time to file this away as closed.

Well, this is not the time and place to argue the definition a HERO, and your tasteless humor is just that. And lasty, if you don't have anything positive to say for this family in grave mourning of their lost father/husband, i think you need to shut your trap and move on.

[mrthornman]

I have hiked and hunted this area many times. It is more rugged and tough than most of you can imagine.

If you get off the road on foot, you better be trained and equipped for it. If not, you are very very lucky to survive in the winter.

You can't blame Kim for trying to hike out after 9 days of waiting. But he should have stayed on the road he came in on. He most likely would have made it out alive. Something to keep in mind if any of you ever get in a similiar situation....

[jsilver2th]

From the Oregon Outback: Regarding newster1 observations:

(1) "The temperatures during the ordeal were in the 20's and teens, cold but not -50 with a 50 MPH wind arctic conditions..."

You don't need arctic weather to die from hypothermia- 20's is plenty cold enough.

(2)"The question for me then becomes why didn't he climb UP, even a tall tree to get a vantage point to look out for a direction to head?"

I can tell you've never been down there. It's hard to imagine how rugged and densely forrested that terrain is- even if you get up or "on top" you can't see anything but trees. You ought to try climbing one of those evergreen's sometime.

(3)"Those BLM roads are NARROW, winding, unpaved rugged gravel that are more fit for a mountain resident's DRIVEWAY than a "road", this should be the FIRST clue to stop, turn around and go back.."

Actually I believe the road was paved- yes?

Now my observation, if these roads were gated and not locked, the moron that cut the lock may have actually closed a gate as access was not a problem. It's not hard to cut a lock out there and one can see how they do not keep the determined person out.

[godofredo29]

I blame myself.

[gramto7]

To blahblahbla5

If you had been following this story from the start yo might have remembered that, according to the news on 12/5/2006:

Before he left, the four huddled together for warmth and ran the car at night until they ran out of gas. Officials said some of the tires were burned as signal fires in a vain attempt to attract attention.

[phil-in-fin]

To blahblahbla5

Whell, if this family had been trained as survivalists, belonging to an extreme outdoor survival group of some kind, then your condemnation and reasoning for such would make sense.

This was a normal family, with minimum ourdoor experience (like most Americans), so save all your hindsight rhetoric.

[blahblahbla5]

They should have made huge signs out of tree limbs, dirt, etc if there was lots of snow and if not started a fire (if you give up on being rescued you can make a fire from the sign materials you collected). They should have used the gas to heat themselves up again and dry their clothes after doing this for a while not waste it idling to maintain warmth. Also rip up the seat cushions and sprinkle over you to insulate more, same with any papers or other items you have in the car. You want to save the gas so that if the snow melts enough or you get unstuck you can then drive someplace because using a gallon to drive 20 miles rather than keep warm say 4 hours is way more effective. If you do not think you will be rescued you walk a few miles one way then backtrack to the car, so you have a place to sleep. Then you do this a different direction next day. This leaves a huge star pointing to where you are and maximizes the chance of finding something useful or being spotted (ie you may find food but if you get hypothermia it doesn't do you much good). Also if you have tubing like cat cat5 cable or a computer mouse (hollow the tube) you can siphon gas out to help start fires, etc.

It's a sad story, but saying they did nothing wrong is just to make people feel good when we could be learning what to do right instead.

[phil-in-fin]

Hey newster1

You are callous and juvenile, and I am sure that you have heard this plenty of times before, so this is nothing new to you.

I just call it like I see it ...

In fact, you are the one who is cashing in on the story by offering an extraordinarily shallow counter-opinion as if this were a political debate.

You are an egomaniac: "Look at me everyone! Me! Me! ME!"

Maybe you are hoping that one day that you will be called a REAL hero. I even think that you are jealous, that we are all writing and commenting on James Kim and not you.

My best guess, you think that you are standing up for Free Speech, making a point that only you can see, the lone voice of reason in the wilderness (pardon the pun) of political correctness. You are the real hero here; the real intellectual.

Enjoy your delusion :-)

[rudy654-2009]

You are exactly right gossimer3. If nothing else, maybe people will remember and will be better prepared for and more aware of such dangers.

[rudy654-2009]

I wonder if there will be a homicide charge for the vandal(s) that cut the lock? I wondered why they would have taken such a dangerous backroad in winter. This is so sad.

[missut2]

Do any of you read the articles before commenting? The headlines itself tells a story...the road the Kim's were stranded on was blocked and locked, but vandals broke the lock and opened the road. As far as sending up lights from the lodge...there was no one at the lodge. It is closed after deer season. However, it was stocked with food and would have been a place where the family could have taken shelter.

This is such a tragic end to a heartwarming story. Living in a time that too many people abuse, neglect, and generally ignore their children, I found it unfair that the Kim family has to suffer such a loss. These were parents that obviously loved each other and their children...so much he would die for them. This is just my opinion and in no way takes away from yours.

[nothappyatall]

gossimer3, people will forget (as they do all of these cases in the news) as we all have jobs and lives and our own families, problems and issues to deal with, as the weeks and months go by few will even remember the name let alone the details, that's just how it IS when there is no familial or close friendship attachment to the person.

We're just going to have to agree to disagree on the definition of "hero", if you wish to consider Kim a hero by all means do so, I don't, others do or don't depending on their own views. In the end it won't matter who prays, remembers or calls whom by what title- the guy is dead, case is closed and time to be archived and closed away in the solved lost persons cases files.
The balloons, stuffed animals, cards and flowers outside the Kim's house will be swept up and removed, the wife will get life insurance money from his workplace, and move onward and forward.
The two kids will someday look back at photos of a stranger they won't really remember and didn't really know and move on as well.
Time to file this away as closed.

[gossimer]

"There is no greater gift than to lay down your life for another." James Kim did indeed lay down his life for his family. If he had not made the decision to try to go for help his entire family may have died, as rescuers were lead to the Kim's van by his footprints.

James Kim IS and will always remain a "hero" in my heart. I pray for his family, his wife and their two children, who are thankfully alive today because of the heroic and selfless act of Mr. Kim. He set out in desperation, and during his hike I cannot believe he didn't contemplate the possiblity he, himself, might not survive, yet he knew he had to go on for his family's sake.

My thoughts and prays go out to James Kim's family, I will never forget their tragic ordeal. I don't know how anyone can. Everytime I travel in the winter, I will think of them and say a pray. What happened to them could happen to any of us, at any time.

[mrthornman]

Our local paper here in Oregon did not use the word hero. They just reported the facts, and let people make their own judgement.

[nothappyatall]

Hey Phil, I just call it like I see it, like it or not I have an opinion like everyone else, I do not believe in PC rhettoric or hero worship, I don't play word games, semantics or tootsie foots with the facts because SOMEONE might be offended or whatever by daring to come out and say something that certain people may object to. The country is a free one last time I checked, the internet is big, these posts are not permanently archived, they expire to further additions 72 hours after a story has run and then they fall away after a time.
The family has much more important things to DO than sit here and read comments on a fairly obscure news site don't you think?

And juiliemd, I may not know that exact area but I have examined it with google's earth, it's rugged, mountainous and all that, I lived near Elkton for years and owned 21 acres a few miles outside of Riddle on Shoestring rd with a BLM road behind me, so I do have a fair idea of the general area

[juliemd]

You really cannot imagine how remote and isolated this area is until you see it. Serious wilderness, no power lines, minimal signage. The suggestion about shining a light at the lodge reflects an ignorance about this locale. The Lodge runs on its own generator when it is open in the summer months. It is even more isolated that the road where their car was stranded. The lodge is the most easily accessed via the Rogue River--a wild river you don't just motor up and down in...

What the Kim's did and how they survived was Super Human and I'd call that heroic.

[mcashel]

It amazes me how the people on here dogging the story don't have something better to do. It sounds like you guys are such intelligent individuals I would think you wouldn't have time to waste on here. If you're so ticked about every part of the story, why do you keep coming back here?

[juliemd]

Hey antoniorego--You are so right, man, everyone here in Oregon is a peace-loving, pot-smoking, organic-veggie eating, trash...so stay the *** away. We don't want the sounds and likes of you anywhere near some of the LAST REMAINING Wilderness on Earth. You stay in Hell, we're happy here in Heaven.

[susanhelit]

He's a hero, and she's a hero. Making a mistake doesn't mean you aren't a hero when you sacrifice your safety for others, willingly, and both the mother and the father did that. He went out to try to get them rescued, when it became apparent that rescue was not coming, she fed her children with a food supply that was coming from her own scant reserves - both of them took courses of action that could have lead to their death to try to save others. That's a hero, always, to me.