Cell phone photos and some metadata. A son's search for his mother in Maui

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/16/ [login to see] /cell-phone-photos-and-some-metadata-a-sons-search-for-his-mother-in-maui
Four blurry photos of what appear to be an ash gray night sky are digital breadcrumbs Jason Musgrove has followed in search of his missing mother.

The photos are the last signs of life Linda Vaikeli shared on the afternoon of Aug. 8 from Maui, just a couple of hours before parts of the island was engulfed in a historic wildfire that has claimed the lives of at least 106 people as of Tuesday evening.

Six days later, Musgrove boarded a plane from Houston to the island, desperate to find his 69-year-old mother.

"It's been absolute agony," he told NPR, on a 9 a.m. connecting flight to the island from Los Angeles. "Not knowing anything is the hardest part."