Forest search ends in tragedy

LOWELL — Searchers finally found Dodie Throssel on Tuesday, three days after she got lost while picking mushrooms high in the Willamette National Forest above Highway 58 and Lookout Point Lake. But it was not the outcome they wanted.

The 54-year-old Springfield woman was found dead in the woods near Goodman Creek Road, about a half-mile from where she parked her Chevy minivan Saturday afternoon.

Throssel’s dogs, two black Chow mixes that were with her when she became lost, helped a group of Linn County Explorer Scouts locate her body in a steep drainage area at about 5 p.m., Lane County Search and Rescue Coordinator John Miller said. “They actually responded to us and helped assist us in finding her,” Miller said.

Initial indications are that foul play or serious injury were not factors in Throssel’s death, the sheriff’s office said in a news release late Tuesday night. The Lane County medical examiner will assist in trying to determine the manner, cause and approximate time of Throssel’s death, the sheriff’s office said.

Because of the demanding topography and poor weather conditions, the recovery of Throssel’s body was expected to continue through much of the night and possibly into early this morning, the sheriff’s office added.

Throssel and two friends drove Saturday to Goodman Creek Road, on the south side of Highway 58, to hunt for chanterelle mushrooms. Throssel left her two friends, a man and a woman, and drove by herself a couple of miles farther up the road to an elevation of about 3,600 feet, Miller said.

She parked her van at about 2 p.m. on the side of the skinny, gravel road, about nine miles south of Highway 58, he said. After she failed to return, her friends hiked up the road and found her van. They searched and called out for her, to no avail, before calling 911 after darkness fell, Miller said.

Throssel’s two sons, Shane Throssel, 30, of Eugene, and Micah Throssel, 32, of Peoria, Ariz., spent Tuesday looking for their mother. Both said they were puzzled by her disappearance and the fact she had gone off by herself.

“I’m wondering about that,” said Shane Throssel, his breath visible in the chilled mountain air, about five hours before his mother’s body was found.

“It doesn’t seem right,” he said. “I’m just really curious about it. I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.”

Dodie Throssel had been an avid mushroom picker for years, Shane Throssel said. But she usually went searching in the Fall Creek area, where she had gotten lost overnight before on a couple of occasions, he said. On those treks, she waited until daylight to find her way out on her own, he said.

Dodie Throssel’s ex-husband, Charles Throssel of Eugene, also arrived Tuesday to again help with the search and encourage volunteers.

“Thank you, everybody!” he told the group of Linn County Explorer Scouts, who would later locate his ex-wife’s body. “You guys look awesome.”

(Dodie Throssel’s son and ex-husband could not be reached for comment after her body was discovered. Charles Throssel’s sister, Susie Throssel, declined by phone to make a family statement.)

Shane Throssel expressed frustration earlier Tuesday about not being contacted by authorities about his missing mother, saying that having picked mushrooms with her before, he might have been able to provide valuable clues. He said he found out she was missing from a friend on Sunday night. “She was in the news before I was notified,” Shane Throssel said. “That’s not OK.”

Miller said he did not learn of Dodie Throssel’s immediate family on Saturday, when the search first began, or on Sunday. He was focused on finding her, he said.

Snow had fallen in the area since Throssel became lost, and on Tuesday it covered the windshield and roof of the van, as well as much of the ground in the area.

Throssel was not dressed to deal with inclement weather. She was wearing tennis shoes, blue jeans, a short-sleeved shirt, light jacket and vest.

About 40 volunteer searchers from Lane, Linn and Benton counties had been searching for Throssel, much of it in nasty, pounding rain, thunderstorms and high winds on Sunday and Monday. Miller temporarily called off the search Sunday night because of the weather.

“I’ve got to consider the searchers,” Miller said Tuesday morning from a command center set up on the south side of Highway 58, just east of Goodman Creek Road. “I want to find her, but I’ve got to consider the searchers’ safety.”

On Sunday morning, Lane County Search and Rescue volunteer Dan Bolton of Cottage Grove, along with two other volunteers, had searched the canyon where Throssel was ultimately found. They called for her but got no response, Bolton said Tuesday. They did not spend a lot of time in the area because it was steep and unsafe, Bolton said.

“Now you see what we’re up against,” Bolton, a 58-year-old truck driver, said Tuesday, looking out at the cloud-covered canyon and snowy treetops through a clearing a mile or so south of Throssel’s van.