James Kim Search Encumbered by Bad Luck and More

New facts have emerged about my friend and colleague James Kim's death in Oregon last week. From SFgate's latest article on the topic:

"A Portland hotel where the family had stayed refused to provide creditcard records that might have indicated which way the Kims had gone."

"The owner of a lodge on the road where the Kims' car was stuck had toldauthorities three days before Kati Kim and her daughters were found that he hadseen tire tracks in the snow, but he hadn't been able to follow them in hissnowmobile once he hit bare ground. No one followed up."

(Update: On USA Today,
OnStar uses cell networks and wouldn't have helped the Kims, had they had it; also,
during a crucial interval, the supervisor in his last week of work before retirement was watching a football game on his day off and a taxpayer-funded helicopter was notsent out to search for the Kim family or James Kim after his family hadbeen found. Also, Confusion hampered search for Kims.)

"In the end, it was an amateurhelicopter pilot who had nothing to do with the official search who saved KatiKim and her young daughters. He went up because he had a hunch, and because anewspaper picture of the girls reminded him of his own grandkids."

"[James Kim] had trekked more than 16 miles through thewilderness to try and save them – 6 miles more than officials originallythought before realizing they'd made a mapping error."

"Detective Mike Weinstein of the Portland police missing persons detail wasout sick Nov. 29 and wasn't able to start work on the call he had gotten fromSan Francisco police until Thursday, Nov. 30."

"Finally, cellular phone clues – gathered by a company engineer whovolunteered his time – helped searchers with seven state and federalagencies and crews with three helicopters hired by the family converge on theright area."

The article also mentions that James Kim's sister Eva's own personal investigation, rather than thoseof the authorities, first approximated the Kims' location, spurringDetective Weinstein to focus on southern Oregon:" The information was critical, Weinstein said. 'It told us we needed to move immediately, because more likely than not they were in our state.'''

Here's the full article; there's also an NPR segment (listen) up about James Kim, and a new map/timeline of the situation.