SEATTLE – A man injured, along with his wife, when their motor home crashed near Snoqualmie Pass on Sunday passed away on Tuesday night, and searchers continue to look for the couple's beloved 17-year-old cat, who ran away after the accident.
Ross and Etta Mayfield were traveling on I-90 Sunday when their motor home ran off the road and crashed. One of their two cats was found right away but "Mugsy" ran off.
The couple's daughter-in-law, Vicki Mayfield, said Etta, 79, was in stable condition Tuesday but Ross, 82, was in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He died Tuesday night.
Mayfield said Etta is pleased that people are out looking for Mugsy and is hopeful that she will be found.
More than a dozen people were out Tuesday searching.
Kat Albrecht of Missing Pet Partnership said a group conducted a grid search and a spotter saw 17-year-old Mugsy dart out with a panicked look on her face, then run back into the brush.
Now that they know Mugsy is there, searchers will stay out of the brush.
"Going in after her or continuing with that grid search and trying to catch her will only cause them to flush her out and put her in harm's way, since she is surrounded by roadways and I-90," said Albrecht.
Unfortunately, one person did venture back into the brush, causing Mugsy to bolt. Luckily she wasn't hit by a car.
Albrecht said Wednesday night that Mugsy hadn't been seen, and it's now necessary to set up feeding stations and night surveillance cameras.
"Trying to catch a panicked cat with your bare hands is like trying to catch a greased pig…the name of the game with a case like this is baiting and patiently trapping (not chasing and trying to catch a fleeing cat," she said.
Albrecht is chronicling the search on the Pet Detective Blog.
