Official search ends for missing elder in northeast Oregon

Three months after his last known sighting, 71-year-old Wesley Dixon Jones remains missing. In a Jan. 6 press release, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation said its police force has “depleted all its leads” and will no longer conduct searches.

Between Oct. 6 and Dec. 3, searches involved the Jones family, Umatilla Tribal Police Department, FBI and the MMIW Search & Hope Alliance. Aerial and underwater drones, cadaver dogs and underwater AI/sonar devices complemented search efforts on foot and horseback.

UTPD Detective William Morris said investigators will continue to follow up on any new leads, and that he’s unaware of any searches planned by Jones’s family or organizations. If no further action can be taken, there’s a chance Jones could be designated a cold case.

“An open investigation and an active investigation are not exactly the same thing,” Morris was quoted as saying. “I can’t say the investigation is closed because we haven’t discovered the truth, so it’s open but functionally inactive.”

Jones is 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs 140 lbs. He has brown eyes and long black hair and was last seen wearing a black and red Tiger Scott jacket, black shirt, black sweatpants and boots. A relative said he had a Shakespeare fishing rod with him.

Morris encourages anyone with tips or new leads to call the UTPD at 541-278-0550.