Pants believed to be missing father’s found

updated 9:23 p.m. ET Dec. 5, 2006

MERLIN, Ore. - Searchers scouring a rugged canyon Tuesday found a pair of pants matching the description of those worn by a missing man who struck out for help after his family’s car got stuck in the snow.

A helicopter with heat-sensing equipment joined other helicopters, snowmobiles and foot patrols Tuesday in the hunt for 35-year-old James Kim of San Francisco. His wife and two daughters were found Monday after being lost for more than a week.

Searchers found the pants Tuesday afternoon.

“It could be a sign he’s trying to indicate the path he was going,” Lt. Gregg Hastings of the Oregon State Police.

Officials said it appeared Kim was within 5 miles of the car he’d left Saturday morning wearing only tennis shoes, pants, a sweater and a jacket. Trackers had followed his footprints until dark Monday night.

Searchers said he had headed downhill and apparently walked out of an area covered with snow toward the Rogue River. Search and rescue teams checked the river with rafts Tuesday.

Kim — whose family told rescuers he had some outdoor experience and had eaten berries while stranded, not knowing if they were poisonous — took two lighters with him when he left the car, Anderson said. “Maybe he got a fire going,” he said at a news conference.

Overnight temperatures in the region have been in the mid 20s to mid 30s. The National Weather Service predicted patchy fog in the valleys during the night with light wind.

Rest of family found on Monday
A helicopter crew spotted his wife, Kati Kim, 30, waving an umbrella Monday afternoon. She and her daughters Penelope, 4, and Sabine, 7 months, were flown to a hospital in Grants Pass and were in good condition.

NBC VIDEO Relieved parents Dec. 5: Phil and Sandy Fleming, parents of Kati Kim, talk with "Today" show anchor Matt Lauer. Today show

They were in very good condition Tuesday and Sabine was expected to be released from the hospital, said Linda Rankin, vice president for patient care at Three Rivers Community Hospital.

Kati Kim might lose one toe because of the cold, her father, Dr. Phil Fleming, told The Associated Press on Tuesday as he and his wife, Sandy, awaited a flight to Oregon from Albuquerque, N.M. He said his daughter breast-fed the two children to keep them nourished during the ordeal and “the children are doing extraordinarily well.”

“You think about a soldier being killed or an individual in a car accident, and you often time wonder how difficult that is,” said Fleming, of Gallup, N.M. “But take a whole family and subject two kids to it — it’s just unbearable.”

The family said James Kim left the car stuck in the snow in southwestern Oregon at about 7:45 a.m. Saturday and walked back the way they had come to look for help, saying he would return by 1 p.m. if he found none.

MORE FROM LIFE

Life Section Front

Tropical storm rumbles ashore in Ala. Dropout, 21, wins $8.55 million poker event Suicides raise worries about recession’s real cost Recession’s good news: Burglaries fall Trucker dies as rig plunges off S.F. bridge Philly transit system running as strike ends Utah girl’s pierced nose brings suspension Jobless: 10 percent is tougher than it used to be Life Section Front   Add Life headlines to your news reader: