King County Search Dogs

January and February 1999

January 13, 1999
99-0077
Redmond
0900 callout for a missing 86 yo female. We were turned around at 0925 when the subject was located by her caregiver. (0 hrs)

February 9, 1999
99-0265
Bellevue
1730 callout for a missing 82 yo female Alzheimer's from her husband's residence. We responded with 3 trailing teams and two airscent teams. The subject's husband had brought her home from the group home where she was staying. He had her sitting in the kitchen when he left for several minutes to fold the wash. When he returned she was gone. Handler Joanne Varney with Hylee were first on scene and went to interview the husband. The most valuable bit of information during the interview was that the subject had walked away in the past and was found in a car. Joanne and Hylee started a trail at the kitchen door and immediately picked up a trail going around the house and down the driveway. The trail led to the next house where there were half a dozen parked cars in the drive. Returning to the street, Hylee picked up the trail continuing south on the street. Fortunately, the trail turned at the next street; if the trail went straight, the road lead to the I-90 on-ramp. Hylee worked back and forth across the road (from car to car) and eventually focused on a car in the front yard of a residence. She worked around both sides of the car and Joanne asked her support to look at the car. The subject was inside the car, cool but overall in good condition. The time was 1940 hrs. During the removal and packaging of the subject by the ambulance crew, the residents came out and were surprised to learn that a person was in their car. (32.5 hrs)

February 9-10, 1999
99-0265
I-90 -- Mason Lake
0830 callout for two missing male snowshoers in Mason Lake/Pratt Lake area. We responded with three airscent teams and one trailing team. The teams were pulled out of the field at night due to avalanche hazards in the area. The subject eventually walked out. There was some disagreement on their stated route and the areas searched by the different dog and ground search teams. (83 hrs)

February 25, 1999
99-ES010
Upper Preston / Echo Lake
0930 callout to participate in a cadaver search in a rural area. We responded with two cadaver dogs. A resident in the area, who lets her dogs run free during the day, returned home to find a partial human hand in the dog's water bowl. The search area extended from the house along the roads back to the nearby highway. The searchers were limited to 100-feet off the roads as the detectives felt this was the most likely area for a body to be dumped. The subject was located (with one hand missing) by a KCSO deputy who walked into a DOT storage yard. (25 hrs)

February 27, 1999
99-ES010
Upper Preston / Echo Lake
We participated in a followup to the 2/25/99 search to verify if there was only the single victim in the immediate area. We deployed four cadaver dogs. We did not locate the subject, nor related clues in the search area. (13 hrs)

February 27, 1999
99-0365
Denny Creek
1130 callout for an Avalanche search for two missing snowshoers in Denny Creek area of I-90. We responded with two dog teams trained in Avalanche work. We were turned around enroute when the subjects walked into base. (18.5 hrs)

Click to continue to March and April 1999 missions.