Medford couple on hunt for tree missing; search continues 24/7 | MailTribune.com
A Medford couple's hunt for a perfect Christmas tree turned into a massive search for them Wednesday after they failed to return from their trip into the woods.
Nearly 40 people combed the hills around the Rogue Valley where Keith and Jennifer Lee, 36 and 38, might have gone in search of a family Christmas tree, but no one found any sign of the couple, said Jackson County Sheriff's Lt. Pat Rowland, who oversees the county's search and rescue team.
During much of the day, searchers drove back roads in the Anderson Creek area west of Medford between Talent and Ruch looking for the Lees' custom-painted neon blue 2002 Subaru Impreza sedan with Crater Lake license plate, CK 94874, he said. When the fog cleared, two helicopters searched from the air.
Later, new information found in the family's home and from a Forest Service employee who issued their tree-cutting permit Monday turned searchers' attention to the east side of the valley, particularly the area where Highway 140 intersects Forest Road 37 near Fish Lake.
Search teams from Jackson and Klamath counties planned to work there through the night, searching from trucks, snowmobiles and Sno-Cats, Rowland said.
"We are 24/7 on this until we find them," he said, adding that three helicopters were poised to search from the air today as needed.
Temperatures in the mountains were below freezing Tuesday night and were expected in the low 20s Wednesday night.
The Lees, who were reported missing Wednesday morning by a concerned friend, left their home in the 3000 block of Clearview Drive about 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, Medford police Detective Sgt. Mike Budreau said. Their four children, ages 8, 14, 14 and 18, didn't accompany them, officials said. Friends and family are tending the children.
The couple had gone out Monday, but returned without a tree so they ventured out again, Budreau said.
"We think they are probably stranded somewhere," he said, noting that it was especially frustrating for searchers to have so little information about where the Lees might have gone.
They had mentioned looking for a "silver tip" fir tree, which would be found at elevations above 4,500 feet, police said. The family cut a tree in the Anderson Butte area last year, but got stuck in the snow for about four hours before digging out, Budreau said.
This time, they already had been gone nearly 24 hours when authorities were notified.
Jennifer Lee, who works at Target, called a family friend Tuesday and asked her to pick up the Lees' 8-year-old daughter from school while she and her husband went to cut a Christmas tree, Budreau said. When the couple didn't come to pick up their daughter, the friend called police just before 7 a.m. Wednesday, launching the search effort.
"We are very worried," Budreau said Wednesday evening, after a day of fruitless searching. "They already had a full day and a night and another day, and now they are going into the second night out there. We don't know how much fuel or food they had or how prepared they are."
Keith Lee's uncle, Henry Hill, of Sacramento, said he thought his nephew, who works at Schuck's Auto Supply in Medford, would be prepared and able to weather most situations that might come up in the woods.
"He is an outdoorsman," said Hill, 60, adding that the family's roots run deep in Oregon, where Lee's grandfather and father both lived and where Lee often vacationed — camping and riding motorcycles and four wheelers on forest trails — before moving here nearly two years ago.
He noted, however, that his nephew has diabetes.
"That's what I'm scared of, if he forgot his medication," Hill said.
Still, he speculated that Lee would have been prepared for cold weather, especially when taking out his wife, who's only an occasional camper.
Police ask anyone with information about the couple and their possible location to call Medford police dispatchers at 770-4784.
