CNET family disappears…

by on November 30, 2006

Engadget’s Ryan Block (his girlfriend works at CNET) reports that James Kim, the senior editor of digital audio at CNET, and his entire family, have gone missing on a drive to Seattle from San Francisco. Engadget is asking for your help.

Ryan, do you know what kind of car they were driving? License plate number?

I sure hope they are found. Last time blogs were used in a search for someone missing it didn’t end so well. (A friend of a friend died after he fell down a mountain, but was missing for several days and blogs were used in the search). My thoughts are with the family and friends of James Kim and family. I can’t even imagine not knowing what happened to a family member of mine.

  • Evan
    That info about his car and plates is located here:

    http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9666094-1.html...
  • Here is the info from the SFPD police report. It includes the vehicle description:

    http://www.sfgov.org/site/police_index.asp?id=3...
  • Actually, Leo posted first... and other TechTV'ers shortly thereafter... but you likely got your info straight from TechMeme, so you're forgiven. ;)
  • Jim Williams
    I hope him and his family are ok. Thanks Robert for posting this.
  • Chris: no, I got it from my news reader.
  • Nick
    Yes Chris, credit is what really matters right now. Prick.

    Hopefully all turns out well with the Kim family, keep us up to date on this Robert.
  • That's horrible. My fiance uses CNET all the time and when I told him about James and his family going lost, he was very upset. I wonder if there is anything we can do? We are about an hour and a half west from San Francisco. If we can help, we will. How sad.
  • stevievep
    Scoble, I found this on your blog feed first, which is weird because lately I've been refreshing several feed reader subscriptions around the clock, but gave myself a break and in catching up found your post...so I'm pledging allegiance and hopes for their safety here...this is seriously affecting my day... Please let there be good news.
  • Aaron
    Just to play amateur cop here for a moment -- the Oregon State Patrol says they're focusing on Highway 38 as the family's "most probable route" to the coast.

    Given that they were calling the hotel from land lines, and there's been no cell phone traffic, I'm not sure why they think Highway 38 is probable. There is no obvious route from Portland to Gold Beach -- any of the half-dozen state highways over the coast range will get you there in roughly the same amount of time.

    What really scares me -- if you miss your turn and keep going on I-5 all the way down to, say, Grants Pass, then ask a GPS unit how to get to Gold Beach, it will send you over a forest service road. In November.

    http://tinyurl.com/yhvhmx (tinyURL redirects to a Google Map.)

    Given that James was a gadget guy, driving a new Saab, I assume there was GPS in the car.

    Something similar happened last winter to a family in an RV.
  • Ryan Libson
    Aaron thats a great point, hopefully the Oregon search and rescue folks got people on snowmobiles,helicopters,etc out checking all the service/logging roads. Having lived in the mountains in MT I can say that it is easy to get yourself into a tight spot on a logging road and have a heckuva time getting out the very same way you came in.

    combine that with the fact that once you get off the main interstates in the mountains the cell signals get dodgy at best.

    If their saab has all wheel drive that might give you just enough courage to try to make it thru, but not enough ground clearance to actually make it. hopefully their all hunkered down somewhere eating beef jerky and drinking yohoo.

    I have my fingers crossed for the Kim family and am praying for their safe return.
  • Charlie
    Chris - Huge Prick.
  • I was puzzled in the first moment of reading this report but remembered how big USA is. GPS needs more work. Only use in cities for the forseeable future. Recently, a Polish couple were heading west through Somerset (SW England) following GPS looking for Scotch Corner 500 kilometres to the north. I wait to hear that your friend and family came riding out of the wilds to safety. Cy mydigest.wordpress.com
  • If there is onboard GPS in the car, the car can be tracked. In Vancouver a couple of years ago, the cops managed to use the GPS system to track a stolen car, so doubtless the ability to track missing cars is just as good now as then. The only question becomes "did they have onboard GPS?" and they likely did, so perhaps that's where the cops got the Highway 38 info?
  • Robert (from Police Report) The Kims were driving a 2005 silver Saab station wagon with California personalized plates of DOESF.

    I'm a So. Oregon local, and based on our local news yesterday the search has appeared to shift to the Bear Camp Road (aka Merlin Galice Road) mentioned by Aaron above. I think they are focusing on the west side of the mountains going up to Highway 38. On maps this road looks like a shortcut to Gold Beach but in reality is treacherous this time of year with many logging spur roads to get lost on. As of Sat 9am I've not heard anything positive yet but hopefully they'll get the choppers checking the roads up there today and find them.
  • Andy Norman
    What are you talking about raincoaster ?

    Just because a car has a GPS navigation system it doesn't mean that the car can be tracked in any way. GPS by itself is entirely passive, it tells the user of the GPS system where they are but doesn't transmit their location to anyone else.
  • They are still not found as of 6:30pm Saturday though they now know they were in Roseburg at 8pm. This means they did NOT take Highway 38, rather 42 or (I think) the Merlin to Gold Beach route which is treacherous. Curry county (west side of Mtns) has stopped their search but Josephine and Douglas Counties (roughly I-5 to East side of mountains) continued searching today (Saturday).
  • billpoly
    I regret if you consider this out of place or irrelevant, but you can simply choose to ignore it.

    DIGG USERS - CALL TO ACTION

    I hate that I am using a sad story such as this to address this point, but I've had enough and I feel that I have to do what I have to do.

    I am a regular CNET reader, listener, and viewer. James Kim has been in my web browser, iPod, and television on such a regular basis that he's become like an old friend. Reading some of the comments posted on Digg against the many stories about the Kim family disappearance, it's clear that I'm not the only one who feels this way.

    On the other hand, I have felt physically ill reading some of the comments posted against stories about the Kim family by several users of Digg. I have read through heartless comments complaining that stories are dupes, miscategorized, and other such violations of the almighty "Digg rules." I won't deign to reproduce some of the more despicable comments I've read because they are below any acceptable level of decency and humanity.

    Digg has the potential to become a great community of individuals sharing intelligent discourse on a variety of subjects. However, it has instead increasingly become a magnet for a large population of truly depraved individuals. I still have hope that these individuals are in the minority and Digg can be taken back from them.

    So, Digg users, this is your call to action. Join me in blocking users who add to the deterioration of the Digg community. The more of us that block the contemptible degenerates that troll Digg, the faster they will become invisible to the community at large.

    Allow me to help you on this path. The following is the list of users that I have blocked simply based on their comments against stories about the Kim family:

    10poundbrown
    aerofoo
    anicejew
    anonymoustroll
    APac
    avcore
    BearOwned
    bigvics
    br1ucf
    cacospectamania
    Celeron
    CharliesRevenge
    cockaroachie
    coustoe
    d3vious
    d8cam
    Diggklansman
    drshane
    el_jefe
    Finster
    fishbait
    gab00n
    gr3yg00se
    gyroscopic
    JackHallows
    jkaiser
    jpeckinp
    Justin6512
    kavaliro
    kortiz
    leonwestbrook
    MalDON
    maxshanly
    mdollarsign
    meepus
    mieses
    modafekshen
    mrwiggl3s
    Neolit
    outpostbabu
    PAJK
    phophuclai
    radicaldementia
    RealHyperX
    rebz
    rrrrob
    Santabot
    simonl
    sshack
    steamedlice
    Suplyndmnd
    techmaster7b
    Thater
    xeno439

    I will reproduce this list on every existing story I find about the Kim family and every new story that is posted. I will post it as a comment on every blog post or news story that I find about the Kim family. I will post it on CNET's forums. I will also maintain and grow this list with each new posting. I’m certain that even responses to this comment will add several new names to the list.

    Digg users, it's time we banished the depraved few that seem to exist only to deteriorate the quality of the Digg community.
  • stevievep
    Kati and 2 children found alive as of about 2:30pm Mon 12/3. James had gone searching for help on his own two days prior. Hooray! Please be well, James.
  • I heard about it 21h30 UK time via Fox News Channel (Eurobird/Sky satellite) and had expected to. I figured they would be found in the car. The only thiong that concerned me was the thought the car might have slipped over a slope. Now I am worried for the husband. I wish the gentleman had not left the car. Cy at mydigest.wordpress.com
  • Sad news from Oregon, James Kim's body has been found in the wilderness.

    It's a sad day for the world.
  • I was puzzled in the first moment of reading this report but remembered how big USA is. GPS needs more work. Only use in cities for the forseeable future. Recently, a Polish couple were heading west through Somerset (SW England) following GPS looking for Scotch Corner 500 kilometres to the north. I wait to hear that your friend and family came riding out of the wilds to safety. Cy mydigest.wordpress.com
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