Search For Hero Dad Ends In Tragedy

Autopsy results were due Thursday on a San Francisco man found dead in Oregon's snowy Coast Range four days after he left his stranded wife and young daughters in their car to go for help.

A search helicopter hired by James Kim's family spotted the body at midday Wednesday about a mile from where Kim set out, and about half a mile from where crews and helicopters had been searching for days.

When the body of James Kim was found in a rugged gorge in the Oregon coastal range, it ended a search that had become personal for many working on it, reports CBS News correspondent John 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.

The 35-year-old technology editor for CNET had been trying to save his family.

"The steps that James took to try and bring his family to safety were nothing less than heroic and we held out hope to the very end," said Neil Ashe, CEO of CNET Networks.

"He was very motivated," Anderson said. "We were having trouble in there. He traveled a long distance" — about eight miles. "It seems super-human to me that he was able to cover that amount of distance given what he had and also given that it had been nine days in the car prior to leaving it."

Earlier Wednesday, searchers said they had uncovered clues that suggested Kim had shed clothing and arranged it to give searchers clues to his whereabouts. They had planned to drop rescue packages with clothing, emergency gear and provisions.

The story began as a mystery: Kim, his wife Kati and daughters Penelope, 4, and Sabine, 7 months, disappeared on a family vacation after Thanksgiving.

"You're looking at a search that originally started in two states, we had no idea where they went," said Anderson.

They were driving from Seattle back home to San Francisco, and planned a side trip to Gold Beach on the Oregon Coast. But when they missed the main highway to the coast, they took a less traveled route, Bear Camp Road. It is little more than an old logging road winding thru the mountains.

They followed what appears to be the main road, but goes to a dead end in the wilderness. The real road to the Oregon coast is smaller and easy to miss, reports Blackstone.

Caught in a snowstorm on the dead-end road, they ran out of gas. It was nine days before a helicopter spotted their car. Kati Kim and her two daughters were rescued in good shape. With little food Kati kept both girls nourished by breastfeeding them.

But James Kim was still missing. Two days earlier, in an attempt to get help, he began to walk out of the mountains. Searchers followed his footprints in the snow, a trail that led down into a steep gorge — tough going even for rescue teams.

"It's very deceiving. When you're up in the mountains it all looks nice and peaceful but ... it's a very steep very unforgiving terrain," said Joe Hyatt of Swift Water Rescue.

The odds against survival lengthened with every night as temperatures in the mountains dropped well below freezing.

"At about 12 noon, one of the pilots from Carlson Helicopters spotted something down on the ground that he believed may be the body of James Kim," said Lt. Greg Hastings of the Oregon State Police.

"We were devastated," admitted Anderson.