• Deceased Loon Lake Subject (F) - 2009
On March 16, 2009, the EDSO, assisted by the Canine Team, located an apparent suicide victim near Loon Lake. The Sacramento man was missing for two weeks. USFS rangers reported his found vehicle to the El Dorado Sheriff's Office, who found the vehicle was registered to a missing person.
SAR 288 said:
The Canine Team was requested on March 6, 2009, to search for any sign of this subject at the point last seen. Two certified trailing dog teams arrived in the morning with Deputy Matt Cathey. The vehicle was found unlocked with keys and a video camera inside. Scent articles were obtained and an attempt was made to establish which direction the subject may have traveled. Evidence indicated the subject had been out there since March 3, and 3-5 feet of fresh snow had fallen since then.
Due to the deep snow, the teams only got as far as the dam. On March 16, we tried again, with one trailing team and one area/cadaver team. Steve Bratton had reviewed the video the subject had left, and he and Deputy Cathey came up with a general area to be searched. We deployed on snow shoes to the north side of the lake. Three things happened at once: I saw "disturbed-looking" snow in the distance and as I suggested we check it out, my dog took off to an area and returned with an alert, just as Deputy Cathey said, "Hey, is that a red shirt?" As we went to investigate further, the dog was plowing through the snow and we saw the remains of what we believed was our subject under a tree. The area was flagged off, marked with orange powder, and that pretty much ended our part. Evidence on the body helped identify him and the rest was up to the CSI.
Winds were 20-30 mph with blowing ice, rain, windchill about 0 degrees, visibility 20 feet or less because of fog—awesome day for a search!
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