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Remembering the Kenny Miller SAR
June 1992
From June 1998 "Lost & Found" Newsletter - "June marks the sixth anniversary of the Kenny Miller search. Those of you who weren't yet members in 1992 might wonder why, even today, the ones who were there keep talking about that mission. To explain, and to remember, here is the story of the biggest search ever undertaken by El Dorado SAR."
It started as a small search run from an Alpine Sheriff's patrol truck. But before it was over, the search for 12-year old Kenny Miller would grow into one of the largest searches in northern California history. At its peak, it involved over 300 searchers from around California and Nevada, (including at least 50 from El Dorado County), plus the U.S. Navy and Marines, Caltrans, the Nevada Department of Prisons, and probably more.
Kenny Miller was last seen alive on the afternoon of Tuesday June 23. He and his family, residents of Oakhurst in Madera County, had come to visit the Carson Pass area as they had done several times before. They hiked into the Meiss Meadow area north of Highway 88, and while Kenny was throwing pebbles into a stream, his family left him alone for a few minutes to inspect an old cabin not far away. When they returned, Kenny had disappeared.
At first, it seems hard to understand how someone could just disappear in Meiss Meadow. The land seems rather open in the vicinity of the cabin, and there is little in the way of brush or trees to block your view for hundreds of yards. But on second glance, you realize that the terrain is deceptive. It dips and rolls in a subtle way, so that a person traveling in certain directions could be out of sight in almost no time.
Alone in the woods, Kenny carried special risks. He was developmentally disabled, with a composite mental age of 4 years. He required medicine to prevent seizures. He was not dressed for nighttime temperatures. And he was sometimes reluctant to answer to his name, even for his parents. This meant that, from a search and rescue point of view, he was an especially tough subject. He had the strength to travel fast, he did not have the wits to find his way back, he was at risk medically, and he resisted attempts to find him. Moreover, if a seizure occurred at the wrong time, he could possibly fall onto rocks or into water.
When El Dorado County searchers arrived late Tuesday afternoon, the command post was set up on the hood of an Alpine Sheriff's patrol truck just off Highway 88 near Woods Lake. The weather was chilly and cloudy, and it was threatening to rain. Even a few people made the small clearing crowded and, as daylight faded, it became apparent that this search needed larger quarters. So, the operation was moved to Caltrans' Caples Lake Maintenance Station about 2 miles away.
It rained Tuesday night, but Wednesday morning brought renewed hope. Temperatures had "only" been in the forties overnight, and more searchers were arriving. Everyone possible was put into the field. Even Air Observers were assigned to foot teams, and a team of 20 CCC youth were put into the field en masse. Assignments were long and arduous ~ eight hours was not unusual. The CCC people and two Sierra West escorts were in the field 11 hours. Afternoon and evening thunderstorms soaked the searchers.
Thurday and Friday brought more searchers ~ and worse weather. Snow fell during the day, and winds blew up to 60 miles per hour. Some teams simply had to withdraw until the weather moderated a little. There were not many leads. Searchers found footprints around an old mineshaft, and search dogs alerted on some tracks, but the Tuolumne County mine rescue team found nothing in the mine, and the dogs lost the scent.
By Saturday, the command post looked like a small city. Dozens of vehicles were parked in and near the Caltrans maintenance station, military helicopters of several different kinds flew back and forth, and there were literally hundreds of searchers combing the hills and valleys. Off duty searchers slept in the Caltrans barracks, in the equipment garage and in their own vehicles. A Salvation Army truck dispensed hot meals, which were eaten out of doors. TV helicopters, news trucks and photographers were all around. Even the general public wanted to help, whether invited to or not. Ordinary hikers and campers, alerted by the news media, formed impromptu search teams on their own initiative. A busload of the Miller family's friends and relatives (some dressed in shorts and sandals) showed up to help. Public support for the search was extraordinary. Motorists honked and waved at teams working along Highway 88, and some people even got out of their cars to shake the volunteers hands. By Sunday, the search had tapped every available SAR resource in Northern and Central California. With Southern California SAR units tied up because of an earthquake there, search managers were starting to call teams from Nevada, and were considering asking for military personnel.
Meanwhile, searchers were once again getting hammered by the weather. During the afternoon, the infamous "afternoon and evening showers and thundershowers" soaked field teams. Many on the ridges faced stinging hail driven by 30-40 mph winds. Suddenly, about 2 p.m. a stream of urgent new orders began coming out over the radio. It quickly became apparent that every possible resource was being moved rapidly into the Woods Lake area. However, the reason was a mystery. Teams in the field knew something had happened, but what? What had happened was that a little girl claimed to have seen and spoken to Kenny the day before. The girl said that she saw a boy matching Kenny's description lying in some bushes, and that when she spoke to him he jumped to his feet and ran away. If true, this was encouraging news.
As searchers began to saturate the area, it wasn't long before two other leads turned up. A team found a witness that claimed to have seen someone matching Kenny's description only hours before. Deputies jumped in a car and headed out to interview her. Then, even before they arrived, what seemed like the biggest break of the search occurred. Another team near Woods Lake reported spotting Kenny from a distance!
It seemed like the break everyone had been waiting for, and there was an hour of excitement and activity as teams poured into the area and deputies strove to keep everything under control. In the end, however, it all turned out to be for naught. In fact, it was later apparent that the sightings of "Kenny" were probably only sightings of Boy Scouts who were camping nearby.
The search continued for three more days on the strength of those sightings and a few other clues (for example, a sock that was thought to be Kenny's). The Navy and the Marines were brought in, and the search area expanded to include even places like Lake Margaret.
By Wednesday July 1, however, it was apparent that little progress was being made. Only a few questionable clues were being found, because there wasn't any area that hadn't been searched two or three times. Moreover, the price of those clues was high - due to their extreme exhaustion, searchers were starting to get injured. Several people twisted knees and ankles, and one searcher broke his arm.
Therefore, the search was dramatically scaled back Wednesday afternoon. Teams were recalled, and only a few strictly volunteer search efforts were scheduled for Thursday. A search never really stops of course, and Sheriff's Deputies, Forest Service personnel, and Caltrans workers would be advised to watch for Kenny. Flyers would be put up, and SAR teams would do training in the area. But the formal, aggressive phase of the search was over. It had lasted nine days and cost tens of thousands of dollars, and had not turned up Kenny. People were wondering where in the world he could be.
Kenny's fate was discovered three days later, on Saturday, July 4. A group of five Nordic SAR people from El Dorado County, on a pleasure hike near Stevens Peak, discovered Kenny's body in the afternoon. He was on a ridge about 2 straight-line miles from the PLS, and about 1,400 feet higher. His body was in the open, and they spotted it from a distance. Kenny was in repose, as though he had simply lain down and gone to sleep. He did not appear to be injured. An autopsy later determined that Kenny had died from hypothermia, probably within 24 hours of being lost.Why didn't the searchers find him? The ridge where Kenny was found is big enough to be a containment feature; that is, a barrier beyond which a subject would not pass. Indeed, the reaction of several people was, "How in the world did he get up there?" It's a 1,400 foot climb, and if he traveled a direct line from the PLS, much of the climb would have been steep and treacherous. There are much easier paths out of the valley, ones that you would expect a subject to follow long before he would climb a quarter mile in elevation.
Today, Kenny is remembered with a marble monument near Stevens Peak, placed there by his parents and his neighbors in Oakhurst. Kenny's father eventually wrote a book, Searching for Kenny, Searching for God. It is his personal account of the search for his son. He has great praise for the efforts of the searchers, and he mentions many of our team members by name.
The length and the size of the "Kenny" search were extraordinary. Those of us who were there, however, will always remember something else: The outstanding character of the SAR volunteers. This was search and rescue at its toughest, and its finest. From the soaked, hail-pelted ground teams, to the battle-fatigued radio operators, to the search management people who worked solid days and nights, everyone gave and gave and gave in the effort to find and save a stranger. All the training, all the practice, and all the planning came together during nine history-making days. It was truly an extraordinary effort, one which even today deserves not just the praise of men, but of angels.
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