Crews intensify search to find missing California man

MERLIN, Ore. (AP) - Searchers intensified their efforts Tuesday to find a San Francisco man missing for more than a week in the snowy Oregon Coast Range as his rescued wife and two young children recovered in a hospital.

Trained dogs, horse patrols and a helicopter with heat-seeking capabilities are to join the search for James Kim, the husband who left his stranded family in order to get help and didn't come back.

The beefed up search crews were to join other helicopters, snow-mobiles and foot patrols that searched in vain Monday for the 35-year-old man.

On Monday, searchers in a privately-contracted helicopter spotted Kati Kim, 30, waving an umbrella at about 1:45 p.m. Her daughters Penelope, 4, and Sabine, 7 months, were airlifted to Three Rivers Community Hospital in Grants Pass.

The three "are in good condition, Kim and the kids" Linda Rankin, vice president for patient care at the hospital, told The Associated Press Monday evening.

"Mom arrived in an ambulance smiling and waving."

Nursing supervisor Cynthia Russell said the mother nursed both children while they were lost.

"They spoke of dad trying berries in the area, but they were not sure if they were poisonous," she said.

Josephine County Undersheriff Brian Anderson said James Kim was wearing tennis shoes, a sweater and a jacket.

Sabine Kim was admitted to the hospital for observation. Her mother and sister shared the room.

The family said James Kim left the snow-stuck car at about 7:45 a.m. Saturday and went the way they had come for help, saying he would return by 1 p.m. if he found none. He didn't.

He walked down into a drainage area. Trackers followed his footprints until dark Monday night.

Anderson said the family turned onto a side road and became stuck in the snow and ran the car heater through the nights to stay warm, eventually burning their car tires.

Oregon State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings said a detective interviewed Kati Kim, who said they had intended to take Oregon 42, the usual route from Interstate 5 to the south Oregon coast, but missed the turnoff, found Bear Camp Road on the map and decided to take it instead of turning back.

Hastings said the four huddled together as a family for warmth. He said some of the tires were burned as signal fies to attract attention, but before helicopters joined the search.

Kati Kim told the detective they had only a small amount of baby food and other supplies in the car.

They went the wrong way at a fork in the road and were 15 miles from Bear Camp Road when found, Hastings said.

The complicated network of roads in the area are commonly used by whitewater rafters on the Rogue River or as shortcuts to Gold Beach in the summer but are not plowed in winter and can be impassable despite being touted as a convenient alternate route.

State Police Lt. Doug Ladd said there is "a very reasonable chance" that he is still alive and that the family said he had some outdoor experience.

Kati Kim was found near the Rogue River in the area of Bear Camp Viewpoint, near the Curry and Josephine county line.

The Kims were vacationing in Seattle, saw friends in Portland and headed toward a resort in Gold Beach on their way home.

But they never arrived and were last seen at a Denny's in Roseburg on Nov. 25.

Bear Camp Viewpoint, near where the car was found, is at a high point in the Coast Range with a view of the southern Oregon wilderness.

Anderson said searchers had to use Sno-cats in the area Monday because of ice and snow.

Searchers said they picked up a "ping" from the Kims' cellphone that guided them to the general area where the family eventually was found and that it was key to their discovery.

The region is remote enough to be generally out of cell phone range.

James Kim is a senior editor for CNET Networks in San Francisco who covers digital audio and co-hosts a weekly video podcast for the Crave gadgets blog on CNET.

The couple owns two boutiques in San Francisco. Doe is a clothing store on lower Haight Street, and the Church Street Apothecary in Noe Valley sells baby goods and skin care products.

Searchers including volunteers and friends and relatives of the family had been checking highways and along the coastline for any sign of the family and their vehicle.

In addition, troopers checked hotels and resorts on the south coast.

The Curry County sheriff's office in Gold Beach was searching the region using four-wheel drive vehicles but were limited by snow and icy conditions.

The Oregon National Guard Air Unit deployed a Blackhawk helicopter to search the roads in the Bear Camp Road area.

Their family also had hired helicopters to search the area, one of which found the mother and children. 

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)