UTPD to Expand Search Area for Missing CTUIR Member Wesley Jones

MISSION – The Umatilla Tribal Police Department (UTPD) is coordinating searches outside the original search area in the case of missing Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) member Wesley Dixon Jones.

The 71-year-old was last seen at approximately 3:15 p.m. on Oct. 5 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.

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.

UTPD Det. William Morris said the searches he is coordinating fall outside of the initial search zone but did not specify locations because of the investigation. “We are slightly expanding the search area, and I think we are going to initiate the search of that area with drones,” he said.

Morris said he wants to begin the searches next week, but coordination is ongoing. He added that the CTUIR Geographic Information Systems is supporting the search effort.

Recently a search led by the MMIW Search & Hope Alliance 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.

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 included in the investigation are between Cayuse and Bingham roads as well as Short Mile Road to Cayuse Road, including River Road.

Morris said throughout the investigation he has stayed in close contact with Jones’s family, particularly daughters Molly and Twila Jones, and is discussing the next steps of the search with them.

“This is a difficult time for his daughters right now, but despite that there has been a good amount of mutual support between us and the family,” he said. “It’s important to me to maintain good relationships with the family.”

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.