Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Missing Germans of Death Valley

Everyone here has probably heard of the Germans that went missing in Death Valley in 1996. Tom Mahood of the Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit developed a theory about the disappearance and subsequently found the remains. He has now published a facinating account of the event which can be found here:

http://www.otherhand.org/home-pag...unt-for-the-death-valley-germans/

At the end of the article, he delivers this blistering criticism of the Inyo County Sherriff's Office:



Some members of this board have personal experience with the Inyo County Sherriff and Inyo County SAR. I would be curious to hear your comments and opinions on Tom Mahood's view.

I've no dog in this fight.

My perspective is that the Inyo Sheriff can spend time, personnel, and resources.....doing rescues, or

talking about operations in the distant past.

My guess is that they are as badly hit as most agencies by budget cuts, and have great difficulty simply doing their high-priority work.

Talking to journalists (of which I am one), is an absolutely "fluff" function. The journalist, who has a profit motive, sees their priorities as far more important that the actual work of a police agency. The required paperwork in policing is beyond belief.

But in any case, I find that statement very unproductive, and would make me read anything written by the author about what the Sheriff did in the body of the book with great caution, because obviously the author is not objective.

that link doesn't work.

try this link to the article.

Wow...fascinating story. Glad that some closure was brought to the family.

Not so much on-site activity, but reminds me of a lot of detective work done by Hrvoje ("Harv") Galic about the Rettenbachers' grave site up towards North Glacier Pass between Thousand Island Lake and Banner Peak. (I played a very small bit part in that tale...photos, mostly, from some of my trips up to Mt. Ritter.)

He got Some Guy's name wrong...

Be interesting to hear his take on this...

Not knowing what Inyo's rules are re: giving info out on what seemed like a still active investigation, I think the author is jumping to conclusions regarding Inyo SAR. He was acting as a civilian, not official SAR.

Los Angels County 4,752 Sq Miles

Inyo County 10,140 sq miles

lotta area...

This is an excellent account. I'd heard about this SAR and 2nd hand descriptions. The brilliant application was to use the map(s) the Germans probably had to try to imagine how they thought and where they might have headed.

Grim, but closure for the families, so worth it.

George

Since I have never met Tom Mahood and never had any interaction with Inyo County officials, I have no dog in this fight either.

That said, is it not the function of a Public Information Officer to, well, give out information to the public? If the county budget is strapped, then why not just eliminate the position?

From all reports, Tom Mahood is not a journalist with a profit motive. He is a retired engineer and a member of the Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit. His web site is free to the public and does not solicit donations. Where is the profit motive? Besides, you would think that the sherriff's office could find 5 minutes to send an email to the guy who discovered the remains.

I'm not trying to pick a fight with Inyo County. I am just hoping for some informed opinions from those who have experience with them.

Hi all, as many of you know, I am the "Deputy”!

I am very sorry to hear Tom is upset with me. Tom has my personal telephone number and he may call me at any time to discuss the case. I consider him a huge asset to the search and rescue family and with his incite this case would have never been brought to the conclusion it received. It saddens me he would write such an article. Tom's find was great clue to solving the mystery of the Germans but most importantly, it brought closure to the families involved. What Tom and outsiders fail to see is this simple point. Search and Rescue is my most important job but by far it is not my only job with Inyo County Sheriff's Office. I gave all the attention I was allowed to spend on this operation.

As for our PIO, Ms. Roper, we are a very small office and she also wears several hats. Without opening my case file I cannot remember exactly where remains were found other than to say they close to each other. There is no conspiracy theory here, just a sad and senseless death of a family. As for Tom's last statements; I would agree, please crawl as far as you can before activating a SPOT (Sorry to use that four letter word!). I spent many years with Inyo SAR as a member and I am proud of the “Volunteer” work they do.

Monterii Semper Liberii

I may have misunderstood your original post in which you mentioned that he had "published" the account, in thinking you meant that he'd published a book.

(I've not read the account, yet)


Public Information Officers may have that as only one small aspect of their jobs, particularly when the budget cuts hit. Such positions may be statutorily required.

The public that is targeted may be more relating to family of victims, traditional journalists in the conduct of a search, direct public appeals, etc.

A private journalist working on a project of interest to themselves is probably way, way, way down the priority list.

I would guess these days that all agency people have to work on a priority basis, and have more things to do, than there is time to do it, and they have to choose. I would think that "historical projects" are going to fall far down the line from active or current cases.

They don't actually sit around drinking coffee, waiting for something to do, like on TV.

Wink - Thank you for your reply. It is always good to hear from someone at the source.

Am I understanding your comments correctly? That the second search did recover the children's remains? It would be good to know that they are now with their families.

Two years ago, I was working in Plans on a Whitney search. Gnarly conditions: 30+ mph winds, temps in the teens while two rangers were trying to thrash their way up to get to some adventurers stuck in the hut. I was warm, dry and comfy and complaining about bad coffee at the ICP. My guilt was only slightly lessened by having loaned my winter jacket to one of the rangers (hey, I was ready to go in his place!).

It's heck getting old.

George