UTPD, FBI Mark Locations for Upcoming Search for Missing Tribal Member

MISSION – Earlier this week, the Umatilla Tribal Police Department (UTPD) and FBI marked deeper areas of the Umatilla River to prepare for a sonar search in the case of missing Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) member Wesley Dixon Jones.

UTPD Det. William Morris said he, an FBI agent and a CTUIR Department of Natural Resources employee walked the river on Wednesday, Oct. 29 from Nicktyoway Road to the Highway 331 bridge on the Umatilla Indian Reservation (UIR) using a GIS application to mark deep pools of water so a sonar machine can be used to search for Jones.

“There’s an independent group coming this weekend called the MMIW Search & Hope Alliance, and they’re bringing several volunteers,” Morris said. “And one of the pieces of equipment that they’re bringing is called an AquaEye. It is a sonar device that can scan underwater, and so they’re going to be going along the river in the area where Mr. Jones went missing and trying to scan, especially deep pockets of water that we can’t just visually inspect.”

AquaEye Pro sends a sonar pulse into water, echoing off objects. The echoes bounce back to the device, which determines if the echoes match those that would be made by a human body. It then provides the location and distance of the suspected body in the water.

Jones, 71, was last seen on camera at approximately 3:15 p.m. on Oct. 5 along east Short Mile Road in a gray 2003 Ford Escape with Oregon license plate SM15454. Morris said when the vehicle returned west on the same road Jones was no longer visible in it. Morris said he could not disclose the driver’s identity because of the investigation.

Jones is described as a 5-feet, 8-inch-tall Native American weighing approximately 140 pounds with long black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a black and red Tiger Scott jacket, black shirt, black sweatpants and boots.

The UTPD has also previously requested the public to provide video footage of the area in which Jones is suspected of going missing on Oct. 5.

“So we are looking for video footage, especially from road-facing cameras, anywhere between Cayuse Road and Bingham Road or from Short Mile Road over to Cayuse Road, including River Road,” Morris said. “And what we’re looking for is any video footage that shows that Ford Escape driving by or a similar vehicle.”

To upload video, visit https://umatillatribalpd.evidence.com/axon/community-request/public/wes-jones

or call the UTPD at 541-278-0550 or Morris at 541-969-7139.

Morris added that he wanted to clarify two pieces of misinformation associated with the investigation. The first is the rumor that the gray 2003 Ford Escape was not the vehicle Jones was last seen in because it had a flat tire. Morris said it is the vehicle contrary to rumor.

“That vehicle sustained a flat tire at some point the day that Mr. Jones went missing and they continued driving on that vehicle with a flat tire,” he said.

The other misconception deals with Jones supposedly being 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.

Along with searching the river with the AquaPro, Morris said MMIW was expected to bring at least one dog for a search potentially east of Sampson Road, which is further upriver.

Since Oct. 6, the UTPD has conducted two searches with the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office Search & Rescue using canines, three aerial drone searches over parts of the Umatilla River and two searches on foot.

Jones’s family has also conducted searches. Morris said although the UTPD was not directly associated with those searches the family is keeping him informed.

Anyone with information regarding the case can call the UTPD at 541-278-0550 or Morris at 541-969-7139.

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation is comprised of the Cayuse, Walla Walla and Umatilla Tribes, and formed under the Treaty of 1855 at the Walla Walla Valley, 12 Stat. 945. In 1949, the Tribes adopted a constitutional form of government to protect, preserve and enhance the reserved treaty rights guaranteed under federal law.