Three South Korean women from the same family have mysteriously disappeared while traveling from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas. The missing include 33-year-old Jeon Lee, her mother TAE He Kim, 59, and her aunt Gang He Kim, 54. They were last seen driving from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas earlier this month.
Three South Korean women, The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office said that GPS information from their rented white BMW showed that they were last seen on Interstate 40 in Williams, Arizona, about 35 minutes west of Flagstaff, according to the New York Post. They have been reported missing to local authorities, and a search is underway.
The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office issued a missing person alert for the South Korean family on March 21 and shared a poster on Facebook. The poster includes photos and other details of the three women, and asks the public to help with the investigation if anyone has any information.
The same day, a 22-vehicle accident occurred on a highway in heavy snow, killing two people and injuring 16. The incident has raised suspicions that the accident may be connected to the disappearance of the three Korean women.
According to a local police officer, “The accident occurred around the same time that the missing women’s cell phone signals were last detected, so it is possible that their disappearance is related to this accident.”
Although police have not yet officially linked the incident to the missing women’s case, Coconino Sheriff’s spokesman Jon Paxton told ABC News that it is an ongoing investigation.
The missing women were scheduled to return to South Korea on March 17, but when they could not be contacted, their families sought help from South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “We have provided all relevant information to local authorities and have dispatched our staff to the area to facilitate the early search for the missing family,” an official at the Republic of Korea Consulate in Los Angeles said.