May 30, 2025 4:00 a.m.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has released more information regarding a crash that claimed the lives of a Drain couple last weekend, and the efforts of Search and Rescue personnel to recover their bodies from a hillside in the Tyee area.
Douglas County 911 Operations Manager Heather Gray said the rollover motor vehicle accident took place on Weyerhaeuser property west of Tyee sometime in the early morning hours of Saturday, May 24th. Gray said DCSO Search and Rescue volunteers assisted in recovering the remains on Sunday morning.
911 dispatchers were alerted to the accident at about 5:00 p.m. on Saturday via satellite assisted Text-to-911. The texter, who had been scouting prior to bear hunting season, said two people had been spotted from a distance on a very steep embankment in the Brush Creek area, and they both appeared deceased.
Deputies responded to the area and located marks in the roadway consistent with a westbound vehicle leaving BLM Road 24-8-35 1 and rolling down the hill.
Gray said using ropes, deputies traversed the embankment and located the bodies of 55-year-old Anthony Forbes and 50-year-old Mandi Forbes, about 215 feet down from the roadway.
Their vehicle, a 1986 Suzuki Samuri, continued to roll past where the Forbes’ had been ejected. It eventually came to rest, heavily damaged, about 500 feet from the roadway in a small ravine.
Search and Rescue volunteers and members of Central Douglas Fire and Rescue’s Steep Angle Rescue Team were assembled Saturday, but determined they were unable to recover the bodies until daylight. Several personnel remained in the area overnight and the teams regrouped Sunday morning.
Gray said that according to responders, the slope angle in this area was between 27 and 50 degrees. This was a previously clearcut area, had low vegetation growth and very thick brush. Nearly 15 responders worked together to complete the recovery.
Evidence on the scene showed the Forbes’ had a permit to be on the Weyerhaeuser property and that alcohol may have been a factor in the crash. Seatbelts were not used. Deputies believe the crash occurred several hours before the bodies were discovered.