Just after 6:00am Sunday morning, June 27th, the Curry County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch received a 911 call from twenty-four-year-old Grants Pass resident, Savanah Barnett, stating that she and her sister, nineteen year old Hailey McGregor along with a three 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 Search and Rescue members to drive the roads in the Bear Camp area to try and locate Barnett, McGregor and the child. Dispatch contacted Josephine County Search and Rescue and requested they check the Bear Camp area on their side of the mountain.
A Josephine County Sheriff’s Deputy and a Bureau of Land Management Ranger were dispatched to check their area. Curry County Sheriff’s Deputies and Search and Rescue members 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 thirty miles west of the Bear Camp Road area. While the roads were being searched on Bear Camp, other Search and Rescue members 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 10:00am, Search and Rescue members 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 Search and Rescue 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 the Bear Camp Road and Agness before they had turned onto the Wildhorse Road.
