This story originally appeared on YachatsNews.com and is used with permission.
YACHATS – A man who camped and rented the past two years around Yachats is missing and presumed drowned after he attempted to rescue a woman and her two sons from the mouth of the Yachats River Sunday afternoon but then was swept away himself.
Friends identified the missing man as Sean Johnson, who had camps north and south of town, had recently found better housing and often played his guitar outside the Yachats Post Office.
The woman, in turn, had to be rescued by Yachats and Seal Rock firefighters from the rocks just to the west of Yachats State Park after she saw Johnson in distress and tried to save him. Her sons made it back to shore with the help of a friend.
The woman, whose identity was not released by authorities Sunday night, was taken to Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital in Newport for treatment of minor injuries.
“She was out of breath, exhausted, hypothermic and banged up pretty good,” said Jeff Mathia, a paramedic and volunteer with the Seal Rock Fire District.
The original tragedy nearly turned worse when a second woman had to be pulled from the water off the state park after she became upset that Johnson was missing and dove in trying to find him after paramedics told her to stay on the shore.
“She almost became a victim herself,” said Mathia.
Two Oregon State Police troopers arrested Caren G. Barcelo, 39, of Corvallis for interfering with firefighters and providing false information to a police officer. She was in the Lincoln County Jail on Sunday night with bail set at $30,000.
The rescues and resulting commotion drew dozens of onlookers to the state park.
Jay McCabe of Yachats, a friend of Johnson’s who witnessed the initial incident, said a woman and two children were playing with boogie boards in the surf at the mouth of the Yachats River. Although they were wearing personal flotation devices, Johnson saw them getting farther out into the water and warned them to stay closer to shore. He then went into the water to bring them to the beach.
But McCabe said the ocean current quickly swept Johnson away.
“Sean was a strong swimmer and tried to save them,” McCabe said. “But the current just took him away.”
The first 9-1-1 call came at 4:38 p.m. Four firefighter/paramedics from Yachats and three from Seal Rock responded. Within an hour, crews from Central Coast Fire & Rescue and Pacific West Ambulance raced to Devils Churn south of Yachats to deal with a tourist who fell and injured himself on the rocks there.
Motor lifeboats from Newport and Florence searched the water just off the state park. A Coast Guard helicopter from North Bend criss-crossed the area until dark.
Johnson had visited Yachats for several years before making it his home during the Covid pandemic. He was well-known in the homeless community, by people who helped with social services, and had recently improved his living situation, friends and acquaintances said.
Yachats Community Presbyterian Church pastor Bob Barrett, who came to the scene Sunday evening, later said Johnson was one of the people who contributed to the planning for Don’s Place, a winter shelter that opened in 2023 at the church. Barrett said Johnson was active in the community, busked with his guitar around town and took on gardening and landscaping jobs to make pocket money.
“He recently met with the city manager’s camping ordinance group and continued to work with the Don’s Place advisory committee supporting efforts to help the unhoused,” Barrett said in a text to YachatsNews.