Alta father swallowed by snow in freak accident
ALTA -- A father of two was swallowed by snow in a freak accident at his mountain home in Alta, just off of Interstate 80's Drum Forebay exit.
It happened two weeks ago on Wednesday, March 29. The evening was about to end with Jason Cassem snuggling up with his wife and two kids on the couch to watch a movie.
That's why Jason went outside, as he had who knows how many times before, to put more fuel in the generator as the home's lights began to flicker: the tell-tale sign they would soon be in the dark. His kids were both taking showers and he didn't want them to be scared if the house went black. So, he hustled out the door.
The next several minutes play out like a horror story for the Cassem family that never got to watch that last movie together.
"It seemed odd he hadn't come back. It didn't seem like it should take that long," said Jason's wife, Melissa Cassem.
Melissa ran out in the dark and called for Jason, getting no response. She walked to the side of their house and found a mountain of snow where her husband and the generator should be.
"I immediately started to panic and thought something is not right," said Melissa. That's when she grabbed a shovel and started digging at the snow bank, realizing quickly she could never get to her trapped husband through the great wall of ice and snow.
Melissa's sister Sara Marcantonio says the snow from the home's second story collapsed, burying her brother-in-law underneath.
"It basically made an igloo around him and he was trapped in there with the generator running, in the dark, with snow on top of him," said Sara.
Melissa climbed what she believes was 16 feet high, desperate to save her husband. She dug a path down into the snow bank and saw her husband pinned. As she was trying to rescue Jason, the snow swallowed her too.
"I couldn't breathe from the moment I fell in there, you could smell the gas," said Melissa.
As she fell, the shovel wedged an air hole at the top of the ice cave. Melissa, nearly passing out from lack of oxygen, positioned an unresponsive Jason as flat as possible in the hole and began to give him CPR.
Every few moments, she climbed up the hole to get a quick, desperate breath before going back down to give the air in her own lungs to her husband. She says she has no idea how long this went on, but it felt like an eternity.
"I'm balancing keeping calm and not being afraid, with continuing CPR to save him and also figuring out how I was going to get out of here before it took me too," said Melissa.
Outside the hole, Melissa and Jason's two kids Juliana, 11, and Geoffrey, 9, had come running when they heard their mother screaming for help. The children were fresh out of the shower, dressed in only their pajamas.
With no cell service, Juliana called 911, finding her mom's cell phone in the dark and using the phone's SOS feature.
"The dispatcher relayed that there were children digging air holes for their parents with pots and pans and they switched the call to a search and rescue," said Sara.
The children tried everything to help their parents. Sara says Geoffrey tried to throw blankets to his parents. He thought they would need them in the cold snow. Juliana sat at the top of the bank and asked her mom the grab onto her dangling legs so she could try to pull her to safety.
Knowing this would only trap her children in the snow with her, Melissa ordered her children to get back in a panic.
Melissa's kids saw a glimmer of hope when a flashlight shined in the distance. It was Jake Platt, a volunteer with Cal Fire who had heard Melissa's cries for help; a neighbor she had never met in person until that moment.
"He pulled me straight up and he started digging a new hole to get to Jason," Melissa said.
Thanks to Juliana's 911 call, help came. An ambulance arrived 90 minutes later.
After paramedics gave their all to revive Jason, it was simply too late.
"And then I remember the moment when they told me it was time to go say goodbye," said Melissa through tears.
Jason was pronounced dead outside of his home.
She described that as the hardest moment of her life. That is until she realized she too had to allow her children next to say goodbye to their father, who they adored and adored them.
"Trying to figure out how you put those pieces back together for the sake of your kids?" said Melissa through tears. "It's a grief I've never known in my life."
Jason died of carbon monoxide poisoning, fatefully trapped right next to the generator.
In their grief, the family chooses now to focus not on the final moments, but on the carefree, music-loving, doting father who in all things put others first.
"He really loved them. And I think, life is short and Jason knew that. He spent as much time as he could with his family," said Sara.
Melissa says her children's last day spent with their father was a snow day. With no school, they spent the entire day playing with their dad in the snow, sledding and tubing and building snow caves. A child's dream.
That snow would the same day betray Jason and rob his family of the man Melissa describes as her "everything."
"He was a free spirit, fun, he loved his family. He was a true romantic. His love language was acts of service," said Melissa.
A life lost to the snow, as what was once paradise, too, is lost.
Melissa and Jason moved their family to Alta from the Bay Area in 2021, searching for a new life closer to nature in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
They evacuated for the Mosquito Fire and did their research on how to prepare in the winter. An HVAC man, Jason knew how to take care of his home. He knew how to prepare for snow and keep his home safe.
"At times our home felt like an ant farm. White walls with tunnels dug through," said Melissa.
But the snow was becoming a burden that was too much to handle. Melissa says it had them considering moving before Jason's life was taken.
"Our dream house literally became a living nightmare," Melissa said.
Melissa and her kids are now staying in Missouri with Sara's family, with no plans of returning to Alta. Looking for a fresh start, they're focused now on healing and building a new life.
She hopes this story reminds people living in the Sierra to always expect the unexpected and to never feel like this cannot happen to you.
What she wishes she had known? Don't ever go alone around your property where snow could be unstable, especially at night. Always take someone with you, someone armed with a shovel and a phone to be used as a flashlight or to call for help in case of an emergency.
Melissa wants parents to teach their young kids to do exactly what Juliana did - how to call 911 using the cell phone's SOS feature. She knew how to unlock the phone, use SOS, and tell dispatchers their address calmly.
"I know Jason would be so proud of his kids," said Melissa.
As spring tries to push through in the Sierra that stubborn snow isn't budging just yet, following the second snowiest season on record.
The dangers at homes in the high country linger. The Cassem family knows that all too well, and hopes Jason's story will remind their neighbors that anything can happen, and to be aware.
The community of Alta is located about 61 miles northeast of Sacramento.