UTPD Still Receiving Tips in Wesley Dixon Jones Case

MISSION – Umatilla Tribal Police Department (UTPD) officials say they are still receiving tips in the case of Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) member Wesley Dixon Jones, who was last seen Oct. 5, 2025.

UTPD Det. William Morris said he received four tips in the past month with some leading to searches at local and distant sites. However, the tips did not lead to the discovery of the missing 71-year-old.

“Even though the tips did not lead to any significant discovery, we would rather receive tips and look into them than not receive them at all,” he said.

Morris said as long as tips regarding Jones’s disappearance keep coming in the UTPD would follow up on them and not label the case cold. A cold case is an unsolved investigation that remains open but is not active pending the discovery of new information.

Anyone with information can call the UTPD at 541-278-0550.

Jones was last seen along east Short Mile Road on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in a gray 2003 Ford Escape with Oregon license plate SM15454. When the vehicle returned west on the same road Jones was no longer visible in it. The driver’s identity hasn’t been disclosed because of the investigation.

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

Since Oct. 6, the UTPD has conducted searches with the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office Search & Rescue, aerial drone searches over parts of the Umatilla River and searches on foot. Other areas searched were between Cayuse and Bingham roads as well as Short Mile Road to Cayuse Road, including River Road.

From Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, the MMIW Search & Hope Alliance used sonar at deeper spots in the Umatilla River. That search also included an area east of Sampson Lane and Short Mile Road along the railroad right-of-way, as well as upriver around the Cayuse community.

On Nov. 18, the UTPD, with the help of CTUIR’s Geographic Information Systems, conducted an aerial drone search in three previously unsearched locations. Citing the investigation, Morris did not specify the locations other than they were farther away from the Umatilla River.

On Dec. 3, a five-member FBI dive team searched Johnley Pond near Cayuse with boats using specialized equipment, including an underwater drone.

Morris said although the UTPD has no plans for additional searches without new information, the MMIW Search & Hope Alliance was planning another search.

Jones’s daughter, Molly Jones, said although no date or location for the new search had been provided as of publication, the MMIW Search & Hope Alliance would accept volunteers for the search as long as they signed non-disclosure agreements because of the open investigation.

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.