Four German tourists missing in Death Valley- found thirteen years later.

Maybe I read it wrong, and it wouldn't be the first time, but they shared the information after a team the S.O. dropped off recovered the remains. I don't see any law enforcement agency sharing the location of human remains, especially in an open case, to what amounts to a hobbyist. Did I miss that he was working in a professional manner for an agency with an interest in the case? Heck, they don't share information between agencies most the time.
 
Under California law, the County Sheriff is in charge of search and rescue, but almost all the SAR personnel are volunteers.

I found the San Bernardino, San Diego, Kern, Tulare, and Riverside Country Sheriff's personnel very cooperative and friendly in my brief two years in SAR. While we got called out to Inyo County a couple of times, I do not recall any interaction with the Sheriff's Dept there. But I was so far down the food chain that my total interaction with any government was nearly nil. My direction and information came overwhelmingly from my Team Leader and other SAR folk.
 
The guy wasn't on a SAR team, and had no affiliation with any sort of official recovery effort.
 
fishshooter said:
The guy wasn't on a SAR team, and had no affiliation with any sort of official recovery effort.
Click to expand...

If one reads the linked material, the author says repeatedly -- six times -- that he was a member of the Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit (RMRU) during the period. He says that some of his searching was part of RMRU organized activity. Of course, he could be lying. Do you have some reason to believe that he is lying? If so, please share.
 
Thomas Linton said:
If one reads the linked material, the author says repeatedly -- six times -- that he was a member of the Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit (RMRU) during the period. He says that some of his searching was part of RMRU organized activity. Of course, he could be lying. Do you have some reason to believe that he is lying? If so, please share.
Click to expand...

No I don't think he's lying. That was very poorly worded statement on my part. He was out there looking for the girl's bones on his own. It was not as part of a SAR team search or any organized recovery effort. It was him. He's upset that the S.O. didn't give him information for his personal use. Reading the last page, it sounds like they didn't even want him out there.
 
The inked material includes the following:

On the morning of Friday December 4th, an eight person team of RMRU members left Hemet for Ballarat to join in a joint search effort for evidence of the Germans. Well, in truth it wasn’t quite that simple, because as we were in the process of departing Hemet we were called to perform a rescue of an injured hiker between towers 1 and 2 of the Palm Springs Aerial Tram.
Click to expand...

AND

Search teams represented included Inyo SAR, CLMRG, RMRU, San Bernardino Desert Rescue, Calaveras County SAR and DVNP. This was quite an impressive search given the constraints it had to operate under.
Click to expand...

AND

It was a cold night in Ballarat, but early next morning we were packed and ready to go. I was assigned to the easterly Alpha area LZ, as part of a team consisting of myself and two of my RMRU team mates, Lee Arneson and Pete Carlson.
Click to expand...

AND

For RMRU the DV search was nicely bookended between two other rescue missions. It was a long drive home, and we didn’t reach our Hemet base until 12:30 AM Monday morning, after which we unpacked and headed off our respective ways.
Click to expand...

I read this language as reporting activity by the RMRU, not the author alone or with a few friends.
 
The inked material includes the following:

On the morning of Friday December 4th, an eight person team of RMRU members left Hemet for Ballarat to join in a joint search effort for evidence of the Germans. Well, in truth it wasn’t quite that simple, because as we were in the process of departing Hemet we were called to perform a rescue of an injured hiker between towers 1 and 2 of the Palm Springs Aerial Tram.
Click to expand...

AND

Search teams represented included Inyo SAR, CLMRG, RMRU, San Bernardino Desert Rescue, Calaveras County SAR and DVNP. This was quite an impressive search given the constraints it had to operate under.
Click to expand...

AND

It was a cold night in Ballarat, but early next morning we were packed and ready to go. I was assigned to the easterly Alpha area LZ, as part of a team consisting of myself and two of my RMRU team mates, Lee Arneson and Pete Carlson.
Click to expand...

AND

For RMRU the DV search was nicely bookended between two other rescue missions. It was a long drive home, and we didn’t reach our Hemet base until 12:30 AM Monday morning, after which we unpacked and headed off our respective ways.
Click to expand...

I read this language as reporting activity by the RMRU, not the author alone or with a few friends.
 
Thomas Linton said:
I read this language as reporting activity by the RMRU, not the author alone or with a few friends.
Click to expand...

All that was in December '09. That was the trip that the bone in question was marked and it's GPS coordinates recorded. Then, he goes back in April 2010 and "enlisted one of my RMRU team mates, Pete Carlson to join in the fun." He goes back in October and "Pete Carlson was going to join me, as he had a good time on the N3 hike." His last trip was November '10. "Adding to the insanity was Paul Caraher and Patrick McCurdy, more RMRU members freelancing" To me, that doesn't sound like he was reporting to anyone.

"In planning our assorted trips into the area, I kept Deputy Winkler informed about what we were up to and our intentions. On two occasions I suggested that since we’d be in the area, we’d be happy to swing by the coordinates noted, see if there was anything to it and take more photos without disturbing the bone. Each time, he just ignored what I said and the discussion moved on." That reads to me he was not on those trips, the trips that S.O. would not give him the coordinates, in any official capacity. Winkler was in charge of the OES search. The OES search was the only reason RMRU was ever out there. On every trip after the bone was found, he was out there on his own with his buddies. Why would Winkler give him the coordinates?
 
Yes, most of us read it. What is your point? The same one I made above that
[H]e was a member of the Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit (RMRU) during the period. He says that some of his searching was part of RMRU organized activity.
Click to expand...
 
This is my last post on the subject. My point is that when he was denied the coordinates that he is upset about, that he was not acting in any sort of official capacity by any agency. He was out there as a private citizen. His last three trips were not part of an RMRU, OES, or S.O. search. He was not entitled to any information.
 
Thanks for posting that site. A great read, and I am glad to have this guy's website again. He also hunts for crash sites for aircraft out of Area 51 and I read some of his stuff years ago.
 
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