Montana family finds lost father in Idaho Falls through Facebook - East Idaho News
Idaho Falls

Montana family finds lost father in Idaho Falls through Facebook

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IDAHO FALLS — Carine Santiago said Facebook was her last resort after she and her family tried everything to find their 70-year-old father who got lost while traveling.

“We were just completely freaking out,” Carine said. “I love Facebook, I’m always on it. (I thought) I’m going to try Facebook.”

A native of Bozeman, Montana, Carine and her family spent Thursday traveling back from West Valley, Utah through Idaho to Bozeman. Carine’s parents were assisting her by driving a car back from a car dealership auction.

“My mom was in one car and my dad was in another car and he was hauling a car behind him. We stopped so my little girls could go to the bathroom, and he didn’t see us pull off,” Carine said, “He just kept going straight and that was the last time we saw him.”

Carine said when they arrived back in Bozeman around 6 p.m. they noticed their dad hadn’t arrived.

“I got on Google Maps, Map Quest, and pulled up the (Interstate) 15. (I) called every single gas station along the route, we called every police department, we called the interstate police department, by 9 o’clock we still hadn’t found him,” Carine said.

The father, Hector Santiago, was driving in his car alone. His wife had his wallet and their shared mobile phone. He couldn’t call his family because he didn’t know his number or his family’s cell numbers by heart. There was almost no way for anyone to get a hold of him.

Some four hours later Carine got onto Facebook and joined groups in Idaho. It was after she joined the group “Man Stuff Sell and Trade Idaho Falls,” that the family’s luck turned around.

“Within 45 minutes they had found him,” Carine said.

Kelly Weaver, a 36-year-old Shelley dentist, said he noticed the post on Facebook and remembered seeing the car mentioned in the description, a “White Lexus SUV and towing behind him a White Mercedes SUV.” Kelly saw the car at the Loves station in Idaho Falls.

“I was close enough that it made sense to go check and let him know what was going on,” Kelly said. “He’s not able to drive at night and he was running low on fuel, so he didn’t really have anywhere else to go. He said he was going to sleep through the night and figure it out in the morning.”

Carine and her family were overjoyed when Kelly made a comment saying he was with their father.

“Not only did he take him to the hotel, he filled up his gas tank, he gave him money for breakfast and for dinner,” Carine said.

MessageLostGrandpa

Carine said Weaver wasn’t the only one helping to find her dad. Strangers were messaging her saying they were searching the streets for her father.

“(Social media is) getting more and more that way. You see how easy it is to reach a large volume of people in a very short time, so it’s very comforting to know. I think it’s only going to get better,” Kelly said.

In the end Hector made it home safely and Kelly and others were happy to help.

“I just want to thank everybody, I love Idaho! Idaho is my favorite place now, people are just amazing. The gentleman that found my dad he went above and beyond to help him,” Carine said.

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