Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional details released by the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office on Monday afternoon.
This weekend, search and rescue teams located a couple that had been missing since Tuesday after leaving the roadway and plunging into the Eel River in their Jeep SUV. Initial search and rescue operations were delayed due to unsafe conditions along the river. The bodies of Gary and Yvonne Niesen were recovered Friday and Saturday.
On Tuesday, Feb. 17, at approximately 11:25 a.m., California Highway Patrol officers responded to the scene of a reported crash on State Route 162 near mile marker 10.8. First responders learned that a vehicle had left the roadway down an embankment earlier in the morning, but they were unable to mobilize a full search effort due to hazardous conditions.
“A vehicle was reported to have left the roadway, went down an embankment and entered the Eel River,” a press release issued by CHP’s Garberville office said. “Emergency rescue teams searched the water while officers checked the surrounding area. However, unsafe weather, high water levels, and poor water visibility made conditions too dangerous for search teams to continue in the river.”
That press release, issued on Wednesday, said that rescue operations — which involved coordination between CHP, Caltrans, Laytonville Fire Department, Cal Fire and the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office — would resume when it was considered safe to do so.
An update issued by CHP two days later confirmed that on Friday, Feb. 20, just after 12:30 p.m., search and rescue personnel located the vehicle near the original crash location with one occupant still inside the vehicle. The vehicle, a Jeep SUV, and the occupant were recovered that same day.
A statement from family members, signed “with gratitude and a heavy heart, the Niesen Family (and the) Buckingham Family” and posted by Danilla Sands to social media, confirmed that the identity of the occupant was Gary Niesen. Gary Niesen, along with his wife Yvonne, had reportedly been traveling from Covelo to Willits along SR 162 to visit their great-grandson Damon on Tuesday morning.
“When they did not arrive as planned, Damon drove Highway 162 to look for them. With a sick feeling in his stomach, he noticed a small disturbance in the grass,” that statement reads. “At the bottom of the hillside he found a bumper, a license plate and other personal belongings. As he moved closer to the river, he discovered more of their items in the water and gathered what he could.”
According to that statement, Stockton-based rescue diver Juan Heredia with Angels Recovery Dive Team was the one to identify the location of the vehicle on Friday. Heredia shared photographs of the scene on social media, including a capsized Jeep that was being pulled from the banks of the Eel.
An update posted later that day noted that, on Saturday, “two kayakers found Yvonne.” A news release from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office issued Monday described “two good Samaritans … in the area on a planned kayaking trip” who found Yvonne Niesen’s body at approximately 2 p.m. near mile marker 14.1 of Highway 162.
“While our hearts are shattered, we are profoundly grateful. The messages, calls, texts, meals, prayers and the steady outpouring of love from this community are carrying us when we feel too weak to stand. You are lifting us in ways we cannot fully express. Gary and Yvonne Niesen are lifelong Covelo residents,” the family’s statement reads. “They built their life here, raised their family here and were deeply rooted in the community. They are the proud parents of two sons, Walter and Fred Niesen.”
“Yvonne and Gary are back home,” a statement made by Heredia on Sunday reads. “This recovery was made with heart … real heart. No giving up. Just faith, commitment, and men and women coming together as one big team. … Every agency showed up. Sheriff, Firefighters, Search & Rescue … all working unbelievably hard with one mission: bring them back home. … If you’re part of that community and you see a sheriff, a firefighter, or anyone from search and rescue — stop for a second and thank them. They gave everything in that river.”
CHP confirmed via news release on Sunday afternoon that Yvonne Niesen’s body had been recovered “approximately five miles downriver.”
“Although there are no other occupants from the crashed vehicle believed to be unaccounted for, this tragic crash is still under investigation,” CHP noted in their Sunday afternoon news release. “Anyone with information about the crash is asked to contact the Garberville Area office at 707-932-6100 or the Humboldt Communication Center at 707-268-2000.
Robert Schaulis can be reached at 707-441-0585.
