South Carolina couple, missing for days, found dead in North Carolina
James Kim Search Discussion - Click here
Update: The couple have been found dead with their car in a swampy area off I-95.
— earlier —
Here’s a new case of missing people brought to my attention by Tara and Glenn who have been brainstorming ways to avoid the Kim Family tragedy here in Southern Oregon.
You can Digg the Fox News Story to bring more attention to the situation.
Thanks to Glenn here are several more accounts:
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny–missingcouple1210dec10,0,3648355.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork
http://wcbstv.com/local/local_story_345060852.html
http://www.wnbc.com/news/10504627/detail.html?rss=ny&psp=news
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5794795
http://wcbstv.com/watercooler/local_story_345060852.html
http://wcbstv.com/newyorkwire/NY–MissingCouple_n_n_0ny–/resources_news_html
http://www.thetandd.com/articles/2006/12/11/ap-state-sc/d8lu6oc80.txt
In this case foul play seems possible, so it would be nice to have a way for everybody along to route to simply keep their eyes open for a White Mazda with SC plates. I’ll post the police tip line when I find it.
Wayne and Dianne Guay, of Myrtle Beach, S.C., were expected in the Ridgewood section of Queens on Thursday night.
They’d likely have travelled Interstate 95. I wonder if the family/anybody has a way to contact all the hospitals that would take in accidents off that route? I’m a sloppy reader, this is in the article: Family members called state troopers along Interstate 95, the route the couple was expected to take, but there was no word of any accidents.
The dearth of local news was frustrating with the Kim saga and now I’m noticing how hard it is to get good local reports. Part of that is the fact local news is getting replaced by mega media conglomerates like ClearChannel, and part is that Google still sucks for many queries like “Ladysmith VA News” where the top listing is great=topix news, but the next two are advertising for TV and Real Estate sites and worthless.
75 Comments »
Leave a comment
-
-
Recent Comments
JoeDuck on Yahoo Buyout Rumor - this one … Annette Barnum on Outlook Express Spell Check Di… FoolsGold on Twitter Ads: Magpie “of… Fera on Hal, please open the pod bay d… JoeDuck on Twitter Ads: Magpie “of… JoeDuck on Yahoo Buyout Rumor - this one … FoolsGold on Twitter Ads: Magpie “of… FoolsGold on Twitter Ads: Magpie “of… Paul on Yahoo Buyout Rumor - this one … JoeDuck on Twitter Ads: Magpie “of… FoolsGold on Twitter Ads: Magpie “of… discover lugano on Travel Blogs glenn on Microsoft to Aquire Yahoo Sear… FoolsGold on Twitter Ads: Magpie “of… JoeDuck on Microsoft to Aquire Yahoo Sear…
Please subscribe to the feed
The couple’s daughter has reported a valuable coin collection owned by her father was missing from their home.
There is defintely something wrong in this situation. They were leaving their home at 4am to make their trip. My parents do the same type of thing this time of year. You avoid the traffic jams and make good time through the metro areas.
I know the routes up the east coast pretty well…there are stretches of road in the Carolinas that is like driving through a swamp. The highway is elevated (dirt mounds) and small overpasses. Someone could very easily fall asleep and drive into a ditch there - and you wouldn’t not see them from the highway.
Also truckers fall asleep and go off the roads there frequently.
95 through the Carolinas goes on for hundreds of miles and is mostly straight and very boring especially at 4am.
I’m thinking foul play is very likely here. The main route is so heavily travelled you’d be hard pressed to get lost, and it does not seem they’d have fallen asleep at beginning of trip.
Missing coins seems an odd thing because it is unlikely that carjackers would return to the house or that they’d have been carjacked at 4am the day they left.
The area they have to travel through on 95 is a common place for accidents of long-distance travelers. Mostly this time of year people are heading south and not north though.
So many days have passed now and LE is not responding to the family’s pleas. That has to be super frustrating.
coin collection is strange but my dad has been known to bring his coins to show me his newest ones when he visits. Also, since car, luggage, and all presents were with them, its most likely they did head out on their toad trip at 4 am.
Family did contact hospitals looking for parents and any and all jane does and john does. Daughter said no luck.
A truck could have run them off the road. If they are off the side of the road in the Carolinas it could be very hard to see them from the road.
They need to check the traffic cams on the route as well. They should show up on some of the cameras.
Does anyone have any contacts with the state agencies or software companies that control the cameras?
We could volunteer to review videos with them.
Some more articles on the story…let’s take a good look and see if we can dig up any other facts.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny–missingcouple1210dec10,0,3648355.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork
http://wcbstv.com/local/local_story_345060852.html
http://www.wnbc.com/news/10504627/detail.html?rss=ny&psp=news
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5794795
http://wcbstv.com/watercooler/local_story_345060852.html
http://wcbstv.com/newyorkwire/NY–MissingCouple_n_n_0ny–/resources_news_html
http://www.thetandd.com/articles/2006/12/11/ap-state-sc/d8lu6oc80.txt
Apologies some of those are the same AP article…I will review in more detail before posting more.
http://www.wpde.com/news/viewarticle.asp?view=3254
Wayne Guay is diabetic but do not say whether he is Type I, or II.
“We think there’s foul play involved because he had a lot of cash, coins and Christmas presents in the back seat,” said Megan Liendo, 27, the couple’s daughter.
awesome idea glenn about the traffic cams, it could eliminate where they made it too.. but if they started out at 4 does darkness hamper visability on these cams? CHeck out how many traffic cams there are in Myrtle Beach area alone.
http://www.dot.state.sc.us/getting/cams/MyrtleBeachCam.asp
Tara can you try to contact them to see if they want volunteers to review images?
I kind of feel like Joe’s un-invited guests…thanks Joe - this forum is helpful. We are starting to get comfy in here.
http://www.wins.com/pages/145055.php?contentType=4&contentId=255874
More info…FBI is to get involved today.
LE thinks foul play or accident.
http://video.ap.org/v/en-ap/v.htm?g=FCC28A40-9824-4A56-804F-C450281DA0AE&t=s60&p=ENAPus_ENAPus&&f=1123225
AP Video on Story
I called the sheriff department. UNBELIEVABLE. SHe said. umhhhmmm. can I have you name and number…. I said sure but is it possible to check archived images? She just said, name…. I said, are you just taking my name and number and logging it down to be shuffled in a pile with a million other calls? she said YEP. I said great. and gave her my name and number and BEGGED her to pass on my message.
I emailed SCDOT. we’ll see. I got thier email from the traffic cams site.
Thanks for calling Tara…each one of these steps we learn how to work within this system.
Glenn no problem using this as a forum for discussion.
I actually think this may be better than the forums section I’ve set up here that’ll be used for one of my travel projects: highways.com/forums/
The advantage to that is that people could start their own threads.
Disadvantages are that the forum environment requires logins and is not as user friendly as simply posting comments as we have been here.
They were last seen Wednesday in Ladysmith VA at a Shell Stations.
That is approximately 378 miles from their home - based on my calculations.
This area is just south of DC and you want to get past this area during rush hour or you will be there for hours.
If they left at 4AM it would take them about 5 hours to travel that distance. They would have been there near rush hour and probably decided to stop and have breakfast.
They need to check all the local restuarants (specifically breakfast spots) and inquire if they have seen the people. Also check credit card info.
If their car was packed and things were visible they could have been scouted in the parking lot.
they were scheduled to leave their house 4am thursday morning right?
If so, how were they spotted wednesday?
http://maps.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTExNmIycG51BF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLWJ1dHRvbgRzbGsDbGluaw–#tp=1&tt=Gas%20Stations&bfkey=gas&mvt=m&q1=ladysmith,%20va%20&trf=0&lon=-77.518158&lat=38.01564&mag=9
Here are the gas stations in the area. They could have stopped at Thornburg Shell stations #14 on the map.
http://maps.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTExNmIycG51BF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLWJ1dHRvbgRzbGsDbGluaw–#tp=1&tt=Restaurants&bfkey=allres&mvt=m&q1=ladysmith,%20va%20&trf=0&lon=-77.518158&lat=38.01564&mag=9
Here are the restaurants in the area.
Road cams are a great idea, though the one’s here in Oregon don’t usually have enough resolution to determine plates or even make of car I think.
To be helpful we need a more info. Is Ladysmith the last gas and/or meal purchase? As with the Kim family I’m frustrated that there is no online clearinghouse for relevant tip information. The FBI will now have to wade through all the same info the family has been thinking about for days.
The intersections in that area will have traffic cameras. They should be able to see them leaving the gas station - most of the gas stations are on the corners of the intersections.
If they paid with cash either at the gas station or restaurant they would make themselves a target as well.
Tara…guess what I would like you to do
http://maps.yahoo.com/index.php#mvt=m&tp=1&tt=Restaurants&bfkey=allres&gid1=12744240&q1=5016%20Mudd%20Tavern%20Rd,%20Woodford%20VA,%20us&trf=0&lon=-77.508781&lat=38.131687&mag=3
Here is a view with A marking the gas station. The other markers are restaurants close by.
The credit card receipt could place the exact time of leaving the Shell station. They, if they have a lot of real time traffic cameras you could *theoretically* track the car though I’m skeptical the cams would have all the traffic - probably just snapshots as most do here.
http://www.wnbc.com/news/10506917/detail.html?rss=ny&psp=news
Just updated with more news…
The Guays usually stop at the Shell gas station in Ladysmith, Va. – about halfway between Richmond and Fredricksburg. After looking at the station’s surveillance camera tape, however, family members were unable to spot the couple.
Family members say they’ve chartered a helicopter to help search for the couple.
They are focusing their search with helicopters over NC and SC. They never made it to the Shell Station - it seems however it was a planned stop on their trip.
http://www.morningnewsonline.com/midatlantic/scp/news.apx.-content-articles-BTW-2006-12-10-0002.html
More info
two things:
1. The Guays usually stop at the Shell gas station in
Ladysmith, Va. – about halfway between Richmond and Fredricksburg. After looking at the station’s surveillance camera tape, however, family members were unable to spot the couple.
so they probably didnt make it that far
2.WBTW News13 is reporting the FBI has offered its services but for now the investigation remains a local one.
WHY?????
glenn- you want me to call about the traffic cams anyway? (near that gas station)
Hi Tara,
It looks like they already reviewed the images…good to know that it can be done though.
They either have had an accident off of 95 or something worse. Hopefully they planned and filled up with gas the day before and didn’t try to fill up at 4:30am. They should check all the gas stations from their home to the freeway.
They could very well have been in a single car accident and in need of medical attention. There have been cases down here in Florida where people have gone into ditches and swamps and were found many days later alive.
OK, so the Ladysmith report is not correct - they have not been seen since they left their house, right?
Correct. There is no conclusive evidence of what time they left either.
my friend lives in myrtle beach…her new cell phone was stolen out of her mailbox. Its a rather high crime area actually.
I would definitley not rule out foul play or an early morning car jacking. If someone stole the coins it makes it sound as if it was someone they knew also.
I would also think that maybe the route should be looked at closley between south carolina and virginia for any really bad curves near water or bridges over water maybe. Is it only route 95 were looking at? what roads do they take to get to 95?
Sorry if this has already been brought up, I have been paying attention with one eye so to speak, still at work!
hey- just a reminder
CNN special tonight 8-9 p.m. ET special on kim family. Paula Zann
Okay-
mapper great thoughts, do we know what route they take to 95?
and again- if the traffic cams in myrtle beach could be reviewed at around 4 am it would eliminate or confirm how they left their house.
Thanks Mapper…
Maybe you can call your friend and get any local tidbits of info. Is there a website setup for the family? Do they have a tip line established? We should get that information up here as soon as we can.
I believe their home was on route 770…I haven’t confirmed it yet but I am getting close. Once we have that we can map out potential routes.
*** NEWS UPDATE ***
They have been found dead…
http://www.wpde.com/news/viewarticle.asp?view=3263
” … WPDE has learned that there is a report of a white car found in a swampy area near Rocky Mount, North Carolina, off Interstate 95. That’s less than an hour east of Raleigh.
We’re told the car matches the description of the white Mazda 3 the Guays were driving. …”
Looks like they had some kind of a mishap. That stretch of road is just straight, dark and forest and swamp on both sides…
They could have been run off the road too. Guess we will find out more soon.
Very sad story.
actually, I know the horry county gis people! I know they have an ims site but I couldn’t get it to load to just check it out, not sure if it would be of use anyway but I was thinking it might help to just check out the road in relation to water bodies, but not just in horry county…I’m at a loss of what I would even ask them for.
I’ll send a general interest email now to see if they have heard of this or have any info.
here is the link anyway, to their ims site if you want to check it out
http://www.horrycounty.org/gateway/disclaimer/idx_gis.html
whoa…okay, scratch that thought. Bad news. Thanks for the update.
Thanks Mapper…looks like they have found the couple dead in their car off 95 in North Carolina in a swamp.
Boy this is a real tough time of year to lose family.
ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. — Authorities have recovered the bodies of a missing South Carolina couple from inside a vehicle submerged in water along Interstate 95 in Rocky Mount, the North Carolina Highway Patrol said Monday evening.
Wayne Anthony Guay, 47, and Dianne Guay, 45, of Myrtle Beach, S.C., were positively identified as the occupants inside the white Mazda with South Carolina registration, the Highway Patrol said.
The Guays were on their way to Queens, N.Y., but never arrived at their destination.
Troopers were notified at about 3:30 p.m. about the vehicle, which was found in a swampy area located between mile markers 139 and 140. Sgt. Keith Stone, with the Highway Patrol, said the vehicle apparently ran off the road into a creek.
Last week, Nash County 911 Communications had notified the Highway Patrol of a traffic collision near the location where the vehicle was recovered, but emergency personnel were never able to locate a collision at the location, the Highway Patrol said.
Make sure you read the last paragraph carefully…are you reading what I am reading?
911 notified Highway Patrol about a traffic collision where the vehicle was recovered but emergency personnel were never able to locate the collision.
Did they even look?
Man that is disturbing…
Somebody called 911
Why wasn’t the person who phoned in the 911 contacted again? I know that part of the road - it is as exactly as I described it before. I have been past there many times. Anyone and everyone familiar with that area would know to look carefully in the swamps off the highway.
Glenn, just out of curiosity, is that a curvy or elevated area? At least we know we had some good thoughts. Helps to know your thinking of looking in the right places. Maybe its also good to know it wasn’t foul play at all, even though its a sad ending.
I’ve heard of cases like this before, quite a few actually, but I guess not one where someone actually called authorities. I am guessing it was dark, but I would hope someone would really check it out.
That area is relatively flat but the roadway is elevated “over” the swamp (on land berms) with small bridges over water ways. It goes for miles like this.
It could have been foul play - hit and run maybe. A lot of truckers fall asleep on that stretch.
I think the key mapper for understanding where they could be is definitely local knowledge. That will be the key for our resources to be successful.
Check this story out…
http://www.cnn.com/US/9807/09/missing.screenwriter/index.html
Thats just crazy!
anyone else watching the kim story now on CNN….
they are still finding pieces of clothing even while they were filming for this segment….
Glenn that is a very interesting story, and kind of funny that he was treated as a suspect. Kind of ironic to drive into water in the Mojave, of all the other things that could go wrong.
http://maps.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTExNmIycG51BF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLWJ1dHRvbgRzbGsDbGluaw–#mvt=m&tp=1&tt=swamp&q2=35.897116,-77.928789&q1=rocky%20mount,%20nc&trf=1&lon=-77.837276&lat=35.917694&mag=6
My best guess to where they had the accident.
On the map that would be marker B…
you guys are going to love this one:
The daughter is on Fox right now critisizing the local law enforcement. The bodies were found by her brother and uncle.
There were numerous calls to 911 reporting the accident. It was within a 3-4 mile range. They are reporting that there were skid marks leaving the road into the creek.
Happened at 7:30am on Thursday. No rain, temp about 40 and light wind 10-15 mph. No fog, no black ice.
Highway patrol says 3 miles is too much to thoroughly investigate.
http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/12/12/06/couplefound.html
More local information. This one provides a fair amount of details.
Initially authorities suggested that the Guays could have intentionally disappeared for a few days, but family members said that was almost inconceivable.
That is really annoying.
Wow Glenn - your initial guess - falling asleep and driving into the swamplands surrounding I-95, was correct. I’m wondering again if this could have been solved far more quickly with a sort of “danger database” that would list dangerous road issues that are known to locals but otherwise unknown to the public or search crews. (e.g. Bear Camp Road turnoffs and snow, these swampy marshes, etc, etc, etc.)
Joe I think it comes down to local knowledge. I had the opinion for two reasons…any time I have driven that route I have wondered about that…like if you crashed right here it would be hard to be found…and second I did fall asleep at the wheel once.
I love this idea (the danger database). I have heard a lot of stories like this (driving off the road and out of sight). Also, it would not be too hard to just check it out in the case of an unsolved car disappearance…like if I had a roads dataset and a water bodies dataset. I could pretty quickly query for where water bodies were within 0-5 feet of the road, or something like that. Local knowledge is great too, but a lot can be done without it, I think.
(60)
I think it is the combination of the two that make it a winner! Lots of good data + local knowledge
These are links to the latest update.
What is important in these links you can listen to the 911 caller. The video link is excellent because it shows you how the road is…similar to what I described earlier. Lastly you can see the tire tracks on the grass.
With this information and viewing this information I just cannot understand how LE did not find the vehicle…anybody have any thoughts - and then LE considered charging the 911 caller…unbelievable.
http://www.wral.com/news/10519487/detail.html
http://www.wral.com/video/10520532/detail.html
The fact that certain places and certain stretches of road have specific dangers is a very important point. When a vehicle and its passengers go completely missing for a period of time, certain possiblities are much more likely than others.
I recall reading a case recently were a car was thought to be possibly submerged at a particular place, and when they searched they did find the car, but also 3 or 4 other vehicles which had also gone into the water nearby over the years.
I have a question, did the police ask the 911 caller to stay? Did they ask him to please get back to the area so he could point it out to them? Or did they at least call him when they couldn’t find the car? The sherriff said it would have been nice if the guy had stuck around. It looked like a fast road where, by the time you realized what you saw you were way past it.
This media reporting is driving me crazy. I mean, here we are, probably not one of us has one single piece of education or background in reporting and interviewing, and we are asking better questions than the media. What good are they if all they do is let people say whatever they want to say and don’t ask any questions?
Hi Susan,
Very few reporters truly want to get to the bottom of it.
I think a lot could have been done. The 911 caller should have been called back BIG TIME. He has to feel terrible and I would love to see an interview on what he thinks about the response and search. I just can’t see how they didn’t see those tire tracks…not that it would have saved them but it would have saved the family that horrible week of pain.
leaving the scene of an accident!? they were lucky he even called! and…yeah I think they could have called him back if they thought it was so important.
911 Tape:
Caller: “There’s a car on the right side going northbound. There’s a car in the swamp area.”
Operator: “Ok.”
Caller: “They haven’t reached it because the lights are still on and everything.”
And police responded but the directions given by the caller are so vague and confusing, and the dispatcher never asked for sufficient clarification, so police didn’t find the car that night.
They havent reached it… comment indicates perhaps it had been there a little while, and a car in the swamp area… its not going to get out without help… total failure on 911 part.
(67),(68)
Failure on 911 for sure -
They should have called the man back. His last name is Rodgers - I am sure they could have tracked him down.
Since HP went back to exit 138 and traveled north searching they should have found the location.
Based on reports coming out Wayne Guay was killed by the impact of the collision (assume tree at this point)
Wife drowned.
They both appeared to not have their seatbelts on. Big mistake on their part.
They still have not reported how the accident occured in the first place.
Amazing to me now 911 and LE put blame on the caller - that he was mistaken about the location. Someone familiar with the area should disect the call and location details to see just how far he was off. It is in-excusable that 911 did not call the caller back or ask the caller to return to the location to aid HP. Is this stuff really this hard?
I have reported several accidents to 911 while I have been on the road - granted I am familiar with mile markers, exits, etc and I am careful to give as near of complete description as I can. In some cases I have to push the 911 operator to make sure they have every detail I am providing - they always seem more concerned to see if I was part of the accident!
FYI Joe…some of the links posted above in your blog entry are no longer valid.
I’m almost 100% positive they had his phone number to call him back if he called 911…
I found this link on another blog…I cannot confirm its accuracy but this might be the stretch of highway where they had their accident. Location B on the map is a possible location of the accident.
http://maps.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTExNmIycG51BF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLWJ1dHRvbgRzbGsDbGluaw–#mvt=h&tp=1&tt=all&q3=36.010332,-77.865108&q2=35.989709,-77.873841&q1=35.986272,-77.875064&trf=0&lon=-77.870128&lat=35.998303&mag=3
This story caught my attention….It is a total mystery and will always remain a mystery..There will never be “for sure” answers to what actually happened to these climbers on Mt. Hood….Obviously a very nice day and wonderful planned trip turned into total horror story for these men and thei families…My heart goes out for their families and friends. It is a very devastating thing for them all to face. They have to face the reality of their loved ones trapped and possibly suffering until death overcame them…Then I’m sure they still have the hope of “maybe they are still alive”…I think (just my opinion)that James was the one who survived the longest and the other 2 died in front of him and he probably witnessed their deaths, or they didn’t get too far before they fell to death.
This story caught my attention it is full of susspence and mystery they could have called for help and called 911 so they didnt have to be in such a situation now
The post mortem done on the couples corpses made it very clear that it was extremely difficult to determine the exact cause of death; due to the very poor condition of Wayne and Diane’s bodies. After spending 5 days dead under water both were badly bloated and severely decomposed. According to the county coroner Diane was essentially unrecognizable as she had swollen to 3 times her normal size and her skin had turned coal black with decomposition.