The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team on Thursday reunited a beloved family photo album with a man whose father died after going missing in 2021.  Young Lee’s father went missing in August 2021 and was found deceased days later in the mountains between the Santa Clarita Valley and the Antelope Valley.   On Aug. 2, 2021, the SCV Sheriff’s Station got a call from the Glendale Police Department about a missing person in their area, said Tony Buttitta, SCV Search and Rescue team captain.   Buttitta said the station was able to locate the missing person’s phone in the mountains between Santa Clarita and Palmdale.   “We activated Air Rescue 5, our rescue helicopter, who flew to the coordinates that were given and they immediately located Mr. Lee’s car,” said Buttitta.   When they checked the car, Lee’s father was not inside, but after searching the area along a trail they were able to find Lee’s father deceased, most likely due to severe weather elements, added Buttitta.   Buttitta and his team decided three weeks ago to go drive to the location where Lee’s father’s car was left. When they reached the car, they found a photo album sitting in the front passenger seat.   “We looked through it and thought, ‘Yup, that’s our victim. That’s Mr. Lee.’ So we got in touch with the Glendale Police Department and wanted to try and find the family,” said Buttitta.   Young Lee flips through his father’s old photo album, after the Santa Clarita Valley Search and Rescue Team had recovered it and returned it to Lee on Thursday afternoon at the SCV Sheriff’s Station on October 31, 2024. Trisha Anas/ The Signal. Lee said he was so thankful for the efforts of Buttitta and his team. He said his father often visited the mountains to take photos of nature and he knew exactly what photo album they had found.  Inside the photo album was a collection of photos Lee’s father had taken of the Antelope Valley poppy reserve.  His father immigrated to the U.S. about 30 years ago from South Korea, Lee said, and ever since he got here his father had loved to visit the mountains.   “He loved nature. Kings Canyon was his favorite. He used to go to Vasquez Rocks here and he named all of the rocks,” said Lee.  Young Lee points to one of the photos his father took in an old photo album that was returned to him by the Santa Clarita Valley Search and Rescue Team on Thursday afternoon at the SCV Sheriff’s Station on October 31, 2024. Trisha Anas/ The Signal. Lee added his father went to the poppy reserve frequently, and at certain times of the year when he couldn’t see the flowers it would make him emotional. He said it just shows how much his father loved nature. He said it was like a big gift to be able to have the photo album three years after his father’s death.   “It means more than anything. I’m going to call my sisters and look over this photo album,” said Lee.  The post SCV Search and Rescue team reunites man with father’s long-lost photo album  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.