Oregon family who vanished in northern B.C. after going for gas found safe

An American family who vanished in northern B.C. after abandoning their vehicle near the side of the Cassiar Highway close to Dease Lake has been found safe.

Terrace Search and Rescue manager Dave Jephson told Global News Oregonians Jeffrey Phan and Michelle Lesaca, both 24 years old, along with their three-year-old, Satana, and two-year-old, Satan, were located on the west side of Kinaskan Lake, south of Tatoga.

Police had kicked off a search for the missing family after their Toyota was found on the side of the highway about 250 kilometres south of the Yukon border on Monday with a note saying they’d run out of gas and gone looking for fuel. Investigators said they’d failed to turn up at any nearby gas stations.

WATCH: RCMP report on finding missing Oregon family in B.C. wilderness

1:42 RCMP spot missing Oregon family in B.C. wilderness

On Wednesday afternoon, police said a search and rescue helicopter spotted four people matching the family’s description.

Jephson said crews with Terrace, Stewart and Smithers Search and Rescue all mobilized on the ground to find them, but he said with such a vast area to search, members were on edge.

“Was this going to be a one-day search, a two-day search, was this going to be a recovery?” he said.

“Obviously that’s a huge concern, especially for our search and rescue members… who have kids. It’s very traumatic sometimes when you find kids sometimes not in very good condition. In this case they were all faring well.”

As for how the family got so deep into the backcountry, Jephson said there are many unanswered questions.

“My first question is how the hell did they get up to Dease Lake? There’s a lot of stuff here that the RCMP is working on,” he said.

“To cross in to British Columbia, the southern part of the province, in early June, and then three-quarters of the way through June to have a vehicle located on the Cassiar Highway north… that just doesn’t happen.”

The disappearance had puzzled police in the area.

The car was discovered on June 18, but police believe it may have been left parked about just off the highway since at least Sunday, June 10.

Investigators contacted Oregon police and the missing peoples’ family, and learned that the four had planned to travel to the Philippines last month, but later changed their plans.

The family had checked into the Portland airport on Friday, May 25 — but then cancelled their tickets and never boarded the plane.

They then crossed into Canada at the Roosville border crossing near Fernie on June 9, police said.

Family worried

Reached by phone in the Philippines, Lesaca’s father Dexter says he had no idea why the couple might have been headed north, and that they have no family in B.C. or Alaska.

He said his daughter cancelled a planned trip to the Philippines last month because she told him she’d gotten a new job at Amazon.

But he said she had sent him some worrying messages, had been selling her possessions on Facebook and that she’d asked him to send money in their last contact.

“I was reading between the lines that something was wrong.”

Lesaca said his ex got in touch with Phan’s parents, who told them that things were OK and that the couple was just moving.

Lesaca said he’s worried about the couple’s safety, particularly because they have young children with them, but is encouraged that search crews may have a lead on them.

“Thank you for looking,” he said.