Missing snowmobile rider found dead on Tahoe Rim Trail near Spooner Summit
On Thursday, March 29 at approximately 4:50 p.m., deputies from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to the Tahoe Rim Trail at Spooner Summit for a reported missing person.
Deputies arrived and met with the reporting party, Mr. Michael Mullins. Michael
stated he and his friend, 56 year-old Thomas Korves of Elk Grove, CA, had been snowmobiling approximately 15 miles in on the Tahoe Rim Trail since approximately 2:30 p.m. that afternoon.
Michael said that while they were riding, he and Thomas became separated, and he had since been unable to find Thomas. Michael said Thomas is not an experienced snowmobiler, so he (Michael) called 9-1-1 for help.
Repeated attempts by deputies to reach Thomas via his cell phone met with negative results, so the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Team was subsequently called out to conduct a search of the area.
At approximately 8:30 p.m., members of the DCSO Search and Rescue Team located the snowmobile that Thomas had been riding.
The snowmobile was pinned up against a tree on a steep embankment off the side of the Tahoe Rim Trail. SAR members checked the snowmobile, and found Thomas pinned underneath it. Thomas was deceased.
DCSO Investigators were called out, and their investigation revealed that Thomas had been attempting to ride up a steep hill when he turned at an angle, causing the snowmobile to flip and pin him underneath.
An autopsy confirmed that Thomas died from lack of respiration as a result of his chest being compressed underneath the weight of the snowmobile.