Searchers never lost hope that Kris Regelbrugge would be found

OSO — They seemed close, tauntingly so.

Clues to Kristine “Kris” Regelbrugge’s whereabouts had been found in several forms: her driver licenses, her wallet, remnants of the family’s chicken coop and letters she’d written to her Navy commander husband when he was deployed overseas.

All had been recovered from the massive debris field left behind by the March 22 Oso mudslide.

Her presence seemed everywhere, yet the cheerful wife and mother of five grown children was nowhere to be found.

To sense she was so near, only to have the trail vanish, “that’s what was so disheartening,” Dayn Brunner said Wednesday.

The Darrington man knew firsthand about heartbreak. He lost his sister in the slide. Summer Raffo, 36, was driving on Highway 530 to a job shoeing horses when the slide swallowed her blue Subaru. She was found March 26.

Finding Regelbrugge — the last of 43 people taken by the slide that soggy Saturday morning in the Stillaguamish River valley — was not just important for the family. It was something the community needed, as well, Brunner said.

“I’m seeing a lot of people suffering from PTSD-like (post-traumatic stress disorder) symptoms,” Brunner said. “I wholeheartedly feel that having her out is going to help with a lot of that.”

On Tuesday morning, four months after the Steelhead Haven neighborhood was devoured, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue crews found a body they were convinced was Regelbrugge. New clues led searchers to the rubble of Regelbrugge’s garage, buried about 18 feet underground. It was much deeper than searchers expected it could be.

On Wednesday morning, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner confirmed the body was Regelbrugge, 44. Her husband, Navy Cmdr. John Regelbrugge III, 49, was found by two brothers and two sons in March.

The couple were at their home on Steelhead Drive when the slide hit. Their family couldn’t be reached Wednesday.

Even after the formal search was disbanded April 28, Brunner said he never lost hope that the final two missing people — Regelbrugge and Steven Hadaway of Darrington — would be found.

Sheriff’s office search and rescue workers quietly returned multiple times to look for them. They would call several local volunteers, including Brunner, who last scoured the dirt about two weeks ago. Hadaway was found May 22.

Brunner knew all of the 43 victims by name. Most he knew well enough for handshakes and hugs. Kris Regelbrugge fit into that category.

He often worked alongside search and rescue sheriff’s deputy Glen Bergstrom, whose home is not far from the slide. Brunner sensed the deputy’s determination. It meant a lot to the volunteers to see him there.

“I knew we weren’t ever going to give up,” he said. “I knew we were going to find her one way or another. It wasn’t a matter of if but when.”

Brunner’s mother, Rae Smith, had promised Regelbrugge’s children that the search would not end until their mother was found.

“We had to bring everyone home,” she said. “Nobody could be left behind.”

Locals had backup plans if the sheriff’s search and rescue ever stopped looking. First, they would have a fundraiser to give money to the largely volunteer operation to continue. If that didn’t work, they planned to go in on their own with heavy equipment.

Smith thought highly of Kris Regelbrugge. It was Regelbrugge who worked with Smith’s son, Anthony, on his schoolwork to make sure he caught up and kept up.

“If it weren’t for Kris, he wouldn’t have graduated,” Smith said.

At commencement in June 2013, Anthony, beaming in his graduation gown, walked down the aisle with friend and classmate Sara Regelbrugge, Kris’ daughter. He handed Sara’s mother a flower, a symbol of his appreciation and acknowledgement of her kindness.

Rae Smith’s promise has been kept, but she knows there will be rekindled feelings of pain for the Regelbrugge family.

“It is always bittersweet,” she said. “I was so glad she was found and that chapter can be closed. But it opens up wounds. You just feel your heart bleeding again.”

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.