Flagstaff, Arizona (KPHO/Grey News) – Arizona officials are looking for three women who were traveling on parts of Interstate 40 around the same time as a massive weather-related crash.
The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the national help of Ji-young Lee, 33, her mother, Taehee Kim, 59, and her aunt, Jungi Kim, 54, for the help of the public.
The sheriff’s office said the family visited from South Korea during their holidays and traveled from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas last weekend.
“We have visitors from all over the world who come here, and yeah, it’s a bit unusual for three to disappear at the same time,” John Paxton said. Coconino County Sheriff’s Office.
Paxton said the South Korean consulate in Los Angeles notified deputies about the incident Tuesday after the trio missed home from San Francisco on Monday.
“I don’t know if they were flying from Vegas to San Francisco,” Paxton said. “Maybe they were driving to San Francisco on the 14th or 15th, but it’s hard to say.”
They belonged to a rental car called the 2024 BMW with a California license plate 9khn768.
According to investigators, last recorded GPS data from the vehicle went west on I-40 before 3:30pm on March 13. A massive winter weather-related crash has occurred.
The crash occurred in the westbound lane of I-40 near Williams, involving around 20 vehicles. The collision caused a fire that burned for more than half a day. The deaths of two.
The sheriff’s office is aware of the crash, but investigators are unsure if the family is involved. A spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the agency that investigated the crash, said the troopers are still working to identify all the vehicles involved.
The detective doesn’t know if this missing family is part of a fiery stake.
“There have been no phone pings we’ve seen since the 13th, and there have been no phone calls, no credit card usage, no GPS, no other points on the GPS of that vehicle,” Paxton said.
Investigators have driven all the roads in the area looking for cars and missing women, but so far there is no indication of them. No searches for dogs and helicopters were revealed either.
“There’s no reason to believe there’s a foul play,” Paxton said.
The South Korean consulate confirmed that officers were sent to Arizona to work with law enforcement.
Anyone with information about their location will be asked to call the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, silent witnesses at 928-774-4523, 800-338-7888 or 928-774-6111. The missing person’s report number is S25-00828.
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