Fall Trail Search

The subject was a 48-year old female, with dementia, heart troubles,
and in generally poor health. She reportedly spent much of Wednesday
(March 2nd) looking for her car keys, which she had misplaced. She called
her daughter, saying she found her keys, and apparently intended to drive
somewhere. Her car veered off Fall Trail road, hitting a rock.

Around 2000 Wednesday, a neighbor in the area heard someone trip over some
piled wood in his yard. When he called out, a women responded, apologized,
and said she was looking for her kids. Nobody else in the area was out
looking for their kids, so it seems likely this was the subject.

The search began Thursday evening, after dark. Several canine and foot
teams searched the area in hasty mode. One canine team reported interest
near (or on?) the pedestrian bridge over highway 50. Another reported a
cadaver alert twice, on the northeast portion of the ridgeline (as it turns
out, this may have been an accurate clue). Another dog tracked a trail
back to the subject's house, which had already been searched. Other than
scents, no clues were found (I think?), and the search was postponed until
morning, so searchers had an opportunity to rest before daylight. Tracks,
from those carrying GPSes, were uploaded into TNP on Jamey's laptop.

In the morning, search efforts focused on the area along the bike trail
and the hillside up toward Fall Trail road. This was moderate to steep
terrain, with low brush and leaves. The ground was still moist, and
slippery in areas. Tracks from people, deer, goats, dogs, and eventually
other searchers were everywhere. As the gradient went from northeast to
the east, it became steeper and more heavily vegetated. Mine shafts and
natural hazards dotted the area. One of the canines picked up a cadaver
scent in a drainage on a steep slope east of the subject residence and
north of the vehicle. This was the subject.

Reaching the subject was difficult because of the terrain, and just below
the subject was a rocky drop-off. A group with chainsaws and garden
shears cleared a pathway while the subject was bagged and put into a
stokes litter. The cliff team set up a simple pull system to haul the
litter out of the drainage in three stages. Once onto slightly less steep
terrain, several people pulled a rope attached to the litter, providing
the force to move the litter uphill, while five others carried the litter,
essentially just keeping it off the ground. This system worked well. We
stopped several times to rest, and met the coroner at the top of the
ridge where R1 and R3 had parked.

Bernie ordered sandwiches for everyone. Teams uploaded tracks to TNP on
Jamie's laptop, as with the night before. The subject's location was also
marked. I think we had everything wrapped up and shut down by about 1500.

Tait