Woman dies in blizzard
By GREG MOORE
Express Staff Writer
A couple’s late-afternoon drive in the
desert reached a tragic end Friday when a 34-year-old Richfield woman died
of exposure after their car ran out of gas southeast of Carey and they
tried to hike out.
According to the Blaine County Sheriff’s
Office, searchers found Rhonda J. George lying in the sagebrush after her
boyfriend, Jeremy Sortor, 29, had hiked for 18 hours across lava fields in
a blizzard to seek help. Though lacking vital signs, she was rushed by
helicopter to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, where
she was pronounced dead.
The two had driven their Geo Prism onto the
Kamima Desert Road from east of Shoshone late Thursday afternoon, and
headed north. They drove for at least 40 miles north of state Highway 24,
but turned around before reaching Carey. After running out of gas, they
started walking, headed back north on the desert road, toward U.S. Highway
20.
Blizzard conditions existed through the
night. According to the National Weather Service, temperatures ranged from
20 to 30 degrees and winds were gusting to 45 miles per hour. Five inches
of new snow was reported at Craters of the Moon National Monument.
George was wearing a ski jacket, blue jeans
and sneakers. By about 11 p.m., after covering eight miles, she was
exhausted and the two built a crude shelter from sagebrush.
The road had looped around to the south at
that point. Leaving George at the shelter, Sortor walked north,
cross-country, toward Highway 20. He didn’t arrive there until late
afternoon Friday, after crossing miles of sharp lava at Craters of the
Moon National Monument.
"The fact that he made it out at all
was phenomenal," said Skip Dehennis, Blaine County Search and Rescue’s
executive director.
Search and Rescue was informed of the
disaster at 5 p.m. A command center was set up at Carey by 6:15 p.m. and
34 searchers headed into the Kamima Desert. The Blaine County Road and
Bridge Department plowed 27 miles of back roads east of Carey so searchers
could reach the abandoned vehicle and begin looking for George. But due to
the blizzard that had been occurring Thursday night, Sortor could not tell
searchers exactly where he had left her.
A team found the shelter about 1 a.m.
Saturday. Dehennis and others then began to track George.
"The tracks were hard to see because
they were filled in with snow," Dehennis said.
Many times, he said, he wasn’t sure if he
was following real tracks at all. He said he was only able to follow the
vague sign due to three tracking courses he had taken during the past four
years through Search and Rescue.
"Four years ago, we would never have
found her. Now, when we have a lost subject, we’re looking for clues,
not the subject."
DeHennis said searchers had learned to
extrapolate information about a subject’s identity and condition from
analyzing footprints.
"The toe of her one shoe was touching
the heel of the other. She was shuffling."
Dehennis said searchers had also learned to
follow tracks with a flashlight held close to the ground, rather than with
headlamps. Using headlamps, he said, they would not have seen George’s
barely visible footprints. He said a full moon that night also helped cast
shadows.
Dehennis and two search partners found
George about 3 a.m., eight miles from the car, lying on her back in the
snow.
"It looked like she had gotten tired
and lay down," Dehennis said.
Dr. Frank Batcha, searching with Dehennis,
could not detect any vital signs. However, he called in a Lifeflight
helicopter from Bannock Regional Medical Center in Pocatello in the hope
that she could be revived at the hospital.
A memorial service for George will be held
Thursday at 1 p.m. at the Hawker Funeral Home in Blackfoot.
George had four children, ages 2 to 13
years, living in Richfield. A trust fund has been set up for the children
at Bank of America offices in Hailey and Ketchum.
Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling advised
anyone in similar circumstances to Sortor’s and George’s to stay in
their car.
"They would have been fine by staying
with the car. They would have been out of the wind. The wind will take you
down in no time."
Femling praised Search and Rescue members
for "an unbelievable job." Despite low temperatures, snowdrifts
and darkness, they found George’s body in the almost featureless winter
desert.
