Missing L.A. mans car found
By Jim Garvey
Seems like it
never fails, RMRU invariably has a mission during
the holidays.
The call came
at noon Sunday for a search in Idyllwild for what
we initially thought to be a missing hiker. As
team members arrived at the Idyllwild office of
the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, we
learned this mission was not going to be a
straightforward search.
The subject,
Gregory Tanner, 20, of Rancho Palos Verdes left
home Thursday, December 20th, ostensibly to run a
few errands and then return home to leave with
his family to spend the holidays in Mammoth.
On Friday,
December 21st, the Sheriff noted a car left
parked in the County Park visitor center parking
lot. When the car was still there on Sunday, the
Sheriff ran a computer check on the vehicle and
turned up a missing person report Gregory's
parents had filed in Los Angeles.
Friday and
Saturday had been stormy, leaving a few inches of
snow in the parking lot and up to one foot at
higher elevations. This added another
complication as Gregory was not equipped with any
mountain clothing or equipment.
RMRU's search
efforts in Sunday's remaining daylight
concentrated on searching the area immediately
around the parking lot where the car was found.
Jim Fairchild and his scent dog also worked this
area. Since the parking lot is the roadhead for
the Deer Springs Trail, we wanted to sweep the
trails on that side of the mountain. Don Landells
and his Jet Ranger arrived in time to fly Pete
Carlson and Larry Roland into Deer Springs to
hike the five or so miles out to the parking lot.
Don Chambers, Kevin Walker, Hal Fulkman, myself
(RMRU members) and John Foster and Jan Caldwell
(Hemet Search & Rescue Team members) were
flown to the top of Suicide Rock. We hiked out
the Suicide Trail to the Deer Springs Trail
(searching both sides) and finished at the
parking lot after dark.
Given the
weather conditions and area that needed to be
searched, Hemet, San Diego, San Dimas and Sierra
Madre teams were called. When all the teams
assembled at base camp in the parking lot early
Monday morning, we had 40 S.A.R. people to put
into the field.
An intensive
line search by all personnel around the parking
lot perimeter failed to turn up any evidence of
Gregory. The next stage was to deploy field units
in the drainages below the parking lot and up and
down both sides of the trails above the parking
lot. Don Landells was called back. Walt Walker,
John Dew and Don spent several hours flying the
area at sometimes less than treetop level.
Late Monday
afternoon, because we had found no evidence
whatsoever that Gregory Tanner was even in the
mountains, Captain Bill Park and Operations
Leader Walt Walker called off the search.
As the men of
RMRU and the other teams prepared for the drive
home to a Christmas Eve with their families,
their spirits were dampened by the thought that
one family would not be together that night.
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