BOISE, Idaho — A Montana motorcyclist who was missing for five days after a crash on an Idaho mountain highway had been surviving by drinking water from a creek before being found, authorities said.
Zachary DeMoss, 24, was seriously injured in the crash, but “he was tough enough to hold out on the mountain for five days while people were passing by and trying to scream at them,” family friend Greg Common told Boise TV station KTVB. No one heard DeMoss’ screams, but Common found him while searching five days after the Aug. 11 crash.
“It was surreal finding him,” Common said. “I had this sudden impulse and I looked to my right and there he was, lying next to the river.”
Demos was riding a 2000 Kawasaki Vulcan motorcycle with two other passengers on Highway 12. The other passengers saw his motorcycle parked on the side of the highway and waited for him at the next intersection several miles away.
When DeMoss never arrived, his friends went back to check on him, stopping at the trailhead where they had last seen his bike.
Neither Demos nor his bike were there.
One of the bike riders, Ali Fan, later He wrote on Facebook Demos was the most experienced rider of the group.
Fan and the other biker determined that Demos had not noticed them passing by and speculated that he had assumed they had gone missing and had turned back to look for them.
“We were low on gas and our rear tires were beginning to wear down so there was no way we could get back on the highway to continue our search without having an accident or breaking down,” Huang wrote.
After waiting two hours at the trailhead and leaving a large note on the gravel in the parking lot, they decided to continue on to the group’s next planned destination in Lolo, Montana.
They stopped at the first gas station and checked with everyone they could, asking if anyone had seen a motorbike rider fitting the description of DeMoss.
They called DeMoss’ cell phone, checked with other friends and family, and had a friend come in a truck and begin searching the pass. They searched until 4 a.m. but found no sign of DeMoss.
The Idaho County Sheriff’s Office was notified of the missing man on August 12. The office used drones and helicopters to conduct an aerial search, and deputies searched on foot along 99 Mile Road.
Police also checked roadway security cameras, worked with Demos’ cell phone company to see if his cell phone had connection to a tower in the area, and made plans to have divers search the deeper parts of the river along the highway.
However, after no sign of the man was found over the next few days, the sheriff’s office announced it was scaling back the search.
Still, DeMoss’ family and friends continued the search on foot, walking for miles searching roadsides.
On the fifth day of the search, Common found Demos near a campsite. He was conscious but severely injured and was drinking water from a stream to survive. Common sent an SOS message using his emergency satellite communicator, and emergency personnel arrived shortly after and took Demos to a hospital by helicopter.
Demos’ mother, Ruth Rickenbacher, said in a Facebook post that Demos’s rescue was a miracle.
“He is alive!!! We have been grieving all last week, walking a mile at a time until it got dark, but the day ended in defeat,” Rickenbacher wrote. “His father and I continued to believe he would be found in some other way than alive. My son is truly a man of courage.”
Rickenbacher wrote that Demos suffered multiple fractures, a collapsed lung and other injuries and “appeared to have been shaken around like a rag doll.”
She said her recovery will take some time and thanked well-wishers for helping her. GoFundMe fundraiser To cover his medical expenses.
