After 11 days of searches, diver finds missing Siletz boy Tuesday three miles downstream from family’s home

By SHAYLA ESCUDERO/YachatsNews

The search for a 2½-year-old boy who had been missing 11 days ended Tuesday when a diver found and recovered his body from the Siletz River three miles downstream from his family’s riverside home.

The body of Dane Paulsen was found shortly after 11 a.m. Tuesday by a volunteer diver from California who specializes in recovering bodies from rivers and lakes.

Juan Heredia of Angels Recovery Dive Team of Stockton offered his services to the Paulsen family and found the boy’s body after about two hours of searching.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said Heredia connected with the sheriff’s office Tuesday morning and was working with a river guide downstream of where sheriff’s divers previously searched.

The 11-day search for the little boy had transfixed the community of Siletz and coastal residents, hundreds of whom volunteered to help search since the boy went missing about 4:25 p.m. Saturday, March 1 while playing in the front yard of his home.

After heavy ground searches of the family’s property, the search effort by official marine rescue and dive teams and by volunteers in kayaks and fishing boats concentrated their efforts on the Siletz River a week ago after trackers found evidence of the boy on the river bank. The home of Chamet Jackson and Aaron Paulsen sits about 100 feet from the river.

The sheriff’s office said its investigators are processing the area where Dane’s body was found and that his family had been notified.

“The impact of this loss is felt by the entire community, and we join those grieving this unimaginable tragedy,” Sheriff Adam Shanks said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the family, who are facing an unbearable sorrow. “We are deeply grateful for the support and dedication shown by the search teams and our communities throughout this difficult time, though we wish it was under different circumstances.

“We understand that this news is incredibly painful, especially for Dane’s family and those who knew him,” Shanks said.

Recovery diver

Heredia began the search for Dane shortly after attending a memorial service for Chris Fowler, a man he had recovered in the Sacramento River last month.

Heredia, a realtor, has been a diver for more than 30 years and founded the nonprofit Angels Recovery Dive Team last year, according to The Stockton Record newspaper. He first recovered a drowned man in 1998, according to The Record.

Earlier this week, Heredia announced he would be heading to Oregon to help find Dane.

“I’ll be camping by the shore and diving as much as I can, doing everything possible to find him,” Heredia wrote on his Facebook page. “His family is waiting for answers, and I won’t stop until I’ve done everything in my power to bring him back.”

By Tuesday afternoon he posted that he had found Dane after two hours of diving.

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

Below is the YachatsNews story from a day on the ground Monday with volunteer searchers

By SHAYLA ESCUDERO/YachatsNews

SILETZ — A handful of volunteers combed through forests and Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputies swept miles of the Siletz River on Monday as the search for 2½-year-old Dane Paulsen entered its 10th day.

The thicket of moss-covered trees bordering the river near his parents’ property was quiet, except for the occasional snap of a twig from under rubber boots.

A group of six volunteers pushed back tree limbs, waded through thick mud and climbed over logs as they scanned the forest floor. Many wore knee-length boots, hats and multiple layers as they walked, eyes on the ground and on each other. While the group worked through the land on the ground, Tom Lelack, a volunteer from Albany, piloted a drone above the tree line, just as he had done for the last several days in an effort to find Dane.

The 2½-year-old boy has been missing since March 1. His parents, Chamet Jackson and Aaron Paulsen, told deputies he was last seen playing in the front yard of their house bordered by the river and Highway 229.

In the days since the boy’s disappearance, the search effort has amassed skilled divers, expert searchers and trackers, law enforcement personnel and hundreds of volunteers. The search has been on both the ground and in the water, using drones and other special equipment.

While the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office continues the official search and focusing on the river, volunteers – although diminished in numbers since the first days — are also aiding the effort.

Tasha Marie, a volunteer from Lincoln City, has a two-year-old boy too.

“He’s the same weight and height as Dane and for the first few days of the search I couldn’t look at him without getting sad,” she said.

Marie has been out on the search for multiple days, often taking her kayak on the river.

Usually, the group of volunteers is assembled by 9 o’clock each morning, she said as she waited at the Ojalla Bridge boat ramp parking lot at 10 a.m. Monday. Dane’s family has been searching out with them too, she added.

“We just want this mama to get some closure and peace, not knowing is worse than anything,” Marie said.

Amber Chadwell, another volunteer from Lincoln City, helped search by boat on Saturday. On Monday she scrolled through photos on her phone of tree roots along the river.

“There’s so many trees and roots it’s daunting,” Chadwell said.

It was past 10 a.m. Monday before a solid volunteer group formed. Some broke off to search the river while others waited to conduct a ground search. Many were community members from Siletz and Lincoln City.

Before the search began, Lelack prompted volunteers to keep an eye out for articles of clothing or footprints that may belong to a child.

The search team found clues that led them to believe the wooded area close to the boy’s family home should be searched in addition to checking the water, Lelack said. He couldn’t provide further details of the clues, he said.

Sheriff’s efforts focus on river

As they have since the beginning, the sheriff’s office had a boat in the river again Monday. The river was an area of focus based on a couple factors, Sheriff Adam Shanks said in a phone interview.

Last week tracking dogs picked up a scent and sign cutters found a footprint down by the river, Shanks said. They’ve covered a lot of ground and miles of water, but nothing was ruled out yet, he said.

A white van that was said to have been seen in the area is not currently linked to the investigation or the search, according to a sheriff’s news release late Monday. The sheriff’s office has repeatedly said they have no evidence of foul play in Dane’s disappearance.

Land in the search area has been thoroughly combed and although it is possible to miss a small child, efforts are concentrating on the Siletz River because of the coverage of the surrounding land and evidence provided by searchers with specialized training and equipment, according to the sheriff’s office.

A two-person team did an above water search Monday and there will be a boat on the water every day until further notice, Shanks said. If they still can’t find anything in the river, Shanks said, the investigators will follow up on leads and additional tips before calling off the search.

Even if that were to happen, there is no “off” to their efforts and there would be follow up to the case, he added.

“We want to exhaust every avenue, we want to do everything we can,” Shanks said.

The sheriff’s office said people with any information related to Paulsen’s disappearance should still call its tip line at 541-265-0669.

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