Texting and an air horn lead to discovery of missing Kooskia man
By KLEW Web StaffKOOSKIA - It was a matter of communicating with a cell phone and an air horn. The Idaho County Sheriff’s Office says on Monday night, at around 6:30, the dispatch center received a broken cell phone report of a subject lost in the Crane Hill area near Kooskia. Deputy Mike Badgley was dispatched to the vicinity the subject was believed to be calling from. The directions received were vague and it was snowing heavily with limited visibility. Badgley followed fresh tracks that led to a residence where he made contact with the resident, Phillip Smith. Badgley advised Smith of the information he had about the possible whereabouts of the lost person and Smith volunteered to assist Badgley in the search. Badgley and Smith headed toward the location Smith believed matched the vague description given to dispatch. They followed fresh tracks and found 26-year-old Kooskia resident Eric Lycan who had made the initial report to dispatch. Lycan told them he and 27-year-old Kooskia resident Scott Rollins had been horn hunting and became separated in the heavy snow. It had been approximately three hours since he had contact with Rollins and Rollins was not dressed appropriately for the weather. The Idaho County Search and Rescue team was notified and began preparing to head to the location to assist in the search. Rollins managed to get out a text message to another subject with Lycan, indicating he wanted them to fire up a chainsaw. Badgley sounded his siren and air horn to which Rollins responded with another text to “make noise”. For the next 40 minutes, Badgley continued sounding his air horn until Rollins emerged from the forest wet and cold but otherwise in good health. Officials expressed their appreciation that Smith was willing to assist with the search. Badgley said the search may have had a much different ending had Smith not assisted. Most Popular |
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