The family's car. | Photo provided by the CCSO

Curry County Sheriff's Office press release:

On Sunday at 6:04 a.m., the Curry County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch received a 911 call from 24-year-old Grants Pass resident, Savanah Barnett, stating that she and her sister, 19-year-old Hailey McGregor along with a 3-year- old child were stuck on a road since the night before and they had no idea where they were.

Barnett stated that the three of them had left Grants Pass in a silver four door Mercury car the evening before to travel to Gold Beach by going over Bear Camp Road.

Barnett said their car got stuck and they had no cell service so they walked about a half hour to where they could get cell service to call 911. Barnett said they turned onto a road but believed they were still off the Bear Camp Road somewhere.

Dispatch contacted Sergeant White and the Sheriff who gave instructions to call out SAR members to drive the roads in the Bear Camp area to try and locate Barnett, McGregor and child. Dispatch contacted Josephine County SAR and requested they check the Bear Camp area on their side of the mountain.

A Josephine County Sheriff’s Deputy and a BLM Ranger were dispatched to check their area. Curry County Sheriff’s Deputies and Search and Rescue members, Will Tucker, Craig Rasbury, Jesse Fletcher, and Art Tarin responded to the Agness area to search all the roads off Bear Camp and Burnt Ridge Roads.

Curry County Dispatch was able to get the coordinates off the original 911 placed by Barnett putting them in the Wildhorse area, which is about 30 miles west of the Bear Camp Road area. While the roads were being searched on Bear Camp, other SAR members including Mike and Wendy Lang, Phil Dixon along with Sergeant White back tracked to the Wild Horse area to check the coordinates given. The Office of Emergency Management in Salem had also pinged Barnett’s phone as requested by the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office and confirmed the same coordinates as those provided by the Curry County Sheriff’s Office.

At about 10 a.m., SAR members Mike and Wendy Lang located Barnett, McGregor, and the child on a spur road off the #3318 Wildhorse Road. The vehicle was stuck and had to be left there while the three were given a ride by SAR to Gold Beach to meet with friends and family.

Barnett stated they had been following directions from Google Maps but did not know they had left Bear Camp Road and Agness before they had turned onto the Wildhorse Road.

Along with the Curry County Sheriff’s Office SAR team and Deputies, those who assisted in this search were the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office, their SAR team, a BLM Ranger, and the Office of the Oregon Emergency Management.

The Curry County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch did a fantastic job helping locate, documenting, and communicating with Deputies and SAR for a great outcome.

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