Oregon Family Members Missing 17 Days Found

Six disappeared March 4th in 35-foot motor home in snowy mountains

Stiver family Photo Courtesy: City of Ashland

(MEDFORD- AP) - Six family members missing in a recreational vehicle since March 4 were found alive Tuesday in a remote, snowy section of Southern Oregon, authorities said.

U.S. Bureau of Land Management workers first found two of the family members, who had decided to walk out of the woods and left the vehicle, sheriff's deputies said.

Later, search and rescue workers in a helicopter made contact with the other four, said Sgt. David Marshall, spokesman for the Douglas County sheriff's department.

A snow machine was headed into the area to pick up the four, Marshall said.

A press release from the sheriff's office said the area "is not accessible by vehicle. There is a heavy snow pack."

The family of Pete Stivers, 29 and Marlo Hill-Stivers, 31, went missing while traveling in a 35-foot recreational vehicle from Ashland on March 4 across the mountains to the Oregon coast.

Also on the trip were their children Sabastyan, 9, and Gabrayell, 8, and Elbert and Becky Higginbotham of Arizona, whom police said were Pete Stivers` mother and stepfather.

Unsuccessful searches had focused on the U.S. 199 corridor leading south from Grants Pass. The few roads across the range in the Douglas County are narrow and windy.

The recreational vehicle apparently became stranded near the line between Douglas and Curry counties, said Marshall, the Douglas County sheriff's office spokesman.

Marshall said that Pete and Marlo Hill-Stivers walked from the recreational vehicle and encountered the BLM workers Tuesday morning.

He said the vehicle apparently was on a dirt and gravel mountain road that is sometimes used as a shortcut for trips to the coast, especially in the summer.

"But it's nothing to travel in the winter, especially with the snows that have been coming through," he said.