CTUIR elder remains missing after three-day search

Throughout the weekend, volunteers with MMIW Search & Hope Alliance organization out of Portland combed through rough terrain and water, using kayaks, ATVs dogs and the AquaEye Pro, a revolutionary AI-sonar device that scoured the deepest pockets of the Umatilla River.

“We did not locate Mr. Jones,” Kimberly Lining of the alliance told Buffalo’s Fire. “However, our team works through the process of elimination, so we know where he is not.”

Seven volunteers came with Lining from Portland, while the remaining ones came from Pendleton, Oregon, or other parts of the CTUIR area.

In a news release dated Oct. 31, CTUIR said the Umatilla Tribal Police Department and FBI marked some of the Umatilla River’s deeper areas ahead of the search.

Lining told Buffalo’s Fire the actual search was conducted primarily by her and volunteers. She said she was frustrated that other agencies, namely the FBI and UTPD, weren’t more involved.

She also voiced disappointment with the allocation of resources. As the search for Jones began, the Oregon National Guard deployed personnel and a helicopter to search for a missing hunter, 51-year-old Devon Dobek, who was last seen Friday night in the Mount Hood National Forest. “They could have been deployed for this situation,” Lining said of the search for Jones. “I’m frustrated that somebody is choosing whose life is more important. When you see these families and the complete devastation, to see what is not being done, it’s extremely angering and frustrating.”

Lining said this is part of working on MMIP cases. “That’s why it’s a crisis. Who chooses who lives and who dies? In the case of Wesley Jones, he’s a tribal elder, and his life matters.”

Lining said the AquaEye Pro worked exceptionally well, and she plans to use it for several more MMIP cases in the southern Willamette Valley. She didn’t have an immediate timeline for those searches but added that she wants to get back to the CTUIR for another attempt to locate Jones before winter.

“I don’t want to waste any time as the weather starts to worsen and the rivers start to rise,” she said. Lining said people concerned about Jones and other missing Indigenous people need to push law enforcement and officials on investigations. She emphasized that relatives like Jones’s son and daughters have been tirelessly leading efforts more than anyone else.

“We want to continue giving the family some relief, as they’ve been out there every day, and they’re driving on pure love and exhaustion out there,” said Lining. “And you can just see the desperation and wear on their faces as they continue to put in all their heart and soul into finding their dad.”

When asked for comment on the case, UTPD Detective William Morris referred Buffalo’s Fire to the CTUIR communications department, which didn’t respond by press time. Questions to the Oregon National Guard also went unanswered.

In the Oct. 31 CTUIR release, Morris addressed misinformation in the community, specifically a rumor that a gray 2003 Ford Escape was not the vehicle Jones was last seen in, because it had a flat tire. “They continued driving on that vehicle with a flat tire,” Morris said.

He also addressed a tip that Jones had been seen at Arrowhead Travel Plaza the night of his disappearance.

“I can say we did look into that lead, and we can say that he was not at Arrowhead Travel Plaza that night,” Morris said.

Jones is described as weighing 140 lbs. and standing at 5 feet, 8 inches tall. He has long black hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a black and red Tigerscott jacket (with a “T” and “S” on the front), black shirt, sweatpants and tan boots. A relative said he was carrying a Shakespeare fishing rod the day he disappeared.

Morris said anyone with information should contact the UTPD at 541-278-0550 or call him directly at 541-969-7139.