New Mexico State Police Release Rescue Tapes

SANTA FE, N.M. --

Megumi Yamamoto and her boyfriend Paul Harrington were supposed to be on a camping trip, but the two were separated. Yamamoto called 911 for help at 4:39 p.m.

"Hello. I'm at the Pecos wilderness and I'm lost. I don't know where I am now," said Yamamoto.

Even though she dialed 911, her calls were routed into a non-emergency line.

Dispatchers couldn't pinpoint where she was calling from since the system routed her 911 calls incorrectly.

"Our dispatchers had never dealt with this before. It always worked until now," said Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano.

Yamamoto's had to call back three more times before Santa Fe County dispatchers transferred her call to state police, but her calls dropped repeatedly and each time she called 911 to re-connect, Santa Fe County dispatch had to re-patch her through to state police.

"This is Santa Fe area RECC, how can I help you," said Santa Fe County dispatch.

"They're trying to get my location from GPS because I am lost and I was talking to State Police Station. Can you pass me to New Mexico State Police?" said Yamamoto.

For the next two hours, state police dispatchers helped the state police helicopter find Yamamoto's whereabouts by asking questions about the geography of the land and position of the sun.

"OK. I mean how bad is the terrain, does it look like? Does it look rough? Does it look like you might be able to get to the lake?" said state police dispatch.

"No, because all trees are like kind of fall down," said Yamamoto.

Eventually pilot Andy Tingwall and the spotter on the helicopter Wesley Cox spot Yamamoto just before sundown, then land the chopper.

Tingwall spoke to his wife Leigh Ann who is the state police dispatcher.

"I'm going to walk down the hill here a little bit. It's going to start snowing up here and if does that I got to get the hell out of here," Andy Tingwall said.

"Well OK. Well, she has a whistle. I tried calling her back and it's going to voicemail," said Leigh Ann Tingwall.

Eventually, Andy Tingwall finds Yamamoto and carries her on his back to the helicopter.

By this time, nearly five hours has elapsed since Yamamoto's first call to 911 and just minutes after the helicopter took off to try to fly out of the mountains it crashed in the rough weather.

"They just hit the mountainside," state police dispatch said.

"Who hit the mountainside?" another caller said.

"Andy," state police dispatch said.

"OK," the caller said.

"I got to take over for Leigh Ann," state police dispatch said.

Andy Tingwall's brother Steve Tingwall, who is also a state police officer, spoke Wednesday. He said his family knows what was on these tapes and they were OK with us airing this for you.

The Yamamoto family returned to Japan with Yamamoto's ashes and is no longer in contact.

Solano said he is investigating how and why the 911 calls were incorrectly routed.

He said the state, county and private companies all contribute to ensuring the system works.

Each sector will have to be picked apart to find the root of the problem.

Related:

New Mexico Trooper/Pilot Died of Exposure, Injuries

New Mexico Pilot/Trooper Found Dead

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