A mother’s request and a photo of her missing son spurs diver’s mission to find 2-year-old Dane Paulsen

By SHAYLA ESCUDERO/YachatsNews

The cold bit through Juan Heredia’s wetsuit as he glided six feet below the surface of the Siletz River. There were branches and uneven ground along the river’s bottom, but the water was clear.

Through his diving mask Heredia saw a pair of white bottomed shoes — blue with Velcro straps. As he came closer he could make out the rest of the form – a dark gray hoodie and black pants pressed gently against a tree trunk.

He had found 2-year-old Dane Paulsen, who had been missing for 11 days after apparently slipping into the river below his parents’ home March 1. On Thursday, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said an autopsy determined Dane had drowned.

“He was in perfect condition, a beautiful baby,” Heredia said.

The search for Dane consumed the community of Siletz and many coastal residents, hundreds of whom volunteered to help after the boy went missing about 4:25 p.m. that Saturday afternoon. He, an 8-year-old sister and parents Chamet Jackson and Aaron Paulsen lived on property bordered on two sides by the river and Highway 229.

Dane was last seen playing in the front yard of his home, which sits about 100 feet from the river. After days of extensive ground searches, the focus shifted to the water after a footprint was discovered at the river’s edge.

In an interview with YachatsNews on Wednesday, Heredia said he was vacationing with his family in Mexico when he began getting Facebook requests to search for a boy missing in Oregon. A friend of the family also reached out to him.

Heredia had never been to Oregon. His nonprofit Angel’s Recovery Dive Team is based in Stockton, Calif. Although it’s been established for less than a year, already the group has gone on 11 searches and recovered eight people.

Heredia has been a diving instructor for nearly 30 years and recovered his first missing person in 1998. Born in Argentina, Heredia migrated to the United States in 2000 and works as a realtor and lender. Diving, though, is his purpose, he said.

Heredia flew from Mexico to Stockton on Sunday. The next morning he began the 10-hour drive to Siletz.

The trip would be the first time he would go alone, without his wife and daughter to accompany him and whose prayers guide him.

“They pray for me and ask God to help me find this person, they pray for me to come back because they know that I risk my life every single moment I am in the water,” he said.

Heredia’s nonprofit doesn’t ask for compensation. Usually, in California he is able to stay with family, friends or is offered a hotel room. Since Oregon was new territory, he brought a tent and was ready to camp along the river if needed. Instead, he spent Monday night in an RV offered by a community member.

A photo, a promise

Tuesday morning at the family’s home, Dane’s mother showed him a photo of her son and gave him details about his clothing.

A mist hung over the Siletz River, with little distinction between pale blue water and pale blue sky. It was mostly quiet in the moments before Heredia zipped up his wetsuit and plunged into the water. Birds sang from the tops of overhanging branches and the water flowed gently.

Heredia kept the image of Dane in his head and turned it over and over in his mind, remembering the necessary details. He thought of what Dane was wearing, how tall Dane was, and the colors and shapes he needed to look for.

Once Heredia sees that picture, he knows he will be tied to that person forever. He will always think about them. The copy of the image won’t just exist in his memory. When he goes home, he will print the image and place it next to a bench by the fireplace of his living room, next to other photos of people he has recovered.

“They become my family,” he said. “I won’t forget them and I don’t want to forget them.”

Before he dives, Heredia thinks of two other boys — Wesley and Andruw Cornet — teenagers who he helped find after they went missing while duck hunting in Northern California.

“I believe they were with me,” he said.

He couldn’t make very many promises to Dane’s mother, just that he would either find Dane or rule out that he wasn’t in the river, Heredia said.

But Jackson asked for one promise — that she be the first to know if he found her baby. Heredia doesn’t recommend people see their loved ones after being recovered. The water can be unforgiving.

But Jackson insisted. She wanted to be the first to know. If Heredia found him, she wanted to see her son.

Finding Dane

Heredia started his search from where Dane was last presumed to be — at the river’s edge by the family property.

A volunteer in a boat helped guide him as he went along with the current. The water was a bit of a shock compared to the warm waters of Mexico, but it was clear and not difficult to navigate.

Two hours after entering the water he found Dane three miles below the family’s house and downstream from where sheriff’s divers previously searched. He remembers seeing the white bottom of the boy’s blue shoes, just as his mother described.

“He didn’t have a scratch on him,” he said. “A beautiful baby.”

Heredia called Jackson first, just as she had asked.

“I told her, ‘I found your baby,’ … it was a very hard moment.”

He alerted the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, which was thankful. Heredia said he often isn’t met with such graciousness from law enforcement when he recovers missing people.

After sheriff’s deputies brought Dane to his mother, Heredia went back to pay his respects to the family.

“We just hugged and cried for a long time,” he said.

• Shayla Escudero covers Lincoln County government, education, Newport, housing and social services for YachatsNews and can be reached at Shayla@LincolnChronicle.org