web powered by 
News 
News Local News Searchers scour rugged terrain by air, on foot
| Searchers scour rugged terrain by air, on foot |
|
|
| February 02, 2012 03:51 pm | |
|
 The family's car has been found deep in the forest. Curry County Sheriff John Bishop flew over heavily wooded hills south of the Rogue River for an hour today in a Cal-Ore Life Flight helicopter but couldn’t spot any sign of a family of three mushroom pickers who were last seen four days ago. Missing are husband and wife Daniel Conne, 47, and Belinda Conne, 47, and their 25-year-old son Michael Conne. All are from Oklahoma, Bishop said. The family was reported Monday to be overdue.Nine ground teams representing Search and Rescue teams from four different counties scoured the same rugged terrain and also came up empty as of mid-afternoon. They continued to search a 4-square-mile area where a red Jeep Cherokee belonging to the family, and a black jacket and a backpack, were found Wednesday.
Bishop appeared mystified after flying over the area where the three lost people are thought to be.
The family vehicle was found less than one mile up Spur Road 120, where
the Connes evidently had driven from Jerry’s Flat Road about 12 miles up
the Rogue River from Gold Beach.
 Sheriff Bishop (left) helps map out search. Bishop said the pickers might have set up a central deposit point for their mushrooms where the jacket and backpack were found, fanning out from there to seek more mushrooms. It’s not known whether they stayed together or split up. The area being searched Thursday, a rectangle stretching south from the river, is the same area search teams combed for the past two days, Bishop said. SAR teams from the Curry, Josephine, Jackson and Del Norte county sheriff’s offices are looking for the missing people. In addition, two Civil Air Patrol fixed-wing airplanes out of Medford have flown the area for two days. Bishop noted that Cal-Ore Life Flight pilot Dan Brattain donated the use of the company helicopter at no charge. The craft costs several hundred dollars per hour to operate, the sheriff said. “Dan is donating his time, which I appreciate very much,” Bishop said. Brattain flew the plane at various altitudes, including close to tree-tops to allow the best view possible. The cell phones of the couple have been pinged numerous times with no information coming from them, leading searchers to believe the phones have run out of power or are no longer working.
Curry County Search and Rescue personnel believe they may be in the Kimble Hill area. Anyone with information regarding the family’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Curry County Sheriff’s Office at 541-247-3242 or 1-800-543-8471. |
