This story was originally published on YachatsNews.com and is used with permission.
The search for a 2½-year-old boy who had been missing 11 days ended Tuesday when a diver found and recovered his body from the Siletz River three miles downstream from his family’s riverside home.
The body of Dane Paulsen was found shortly after 11 a.m. Tuesday by a volunteer diver from California who specializes in covering bodies from rivers and lakes.
Juan Heredia of Angels Recovery Dive Team of Stockton offered his services to the Paulsen family and found the boy’s body after about two hours of searching.
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said Heredia connected with the sheriff’s office Tuesday morning and was working with a river guide downstream of where sheriff’s divers had searched.
The 11-day search for the little boy had transfixed the community of Siletz and coastal residents, hundreds of whom volunteered to help search since the boy went missing about 4:25 p.m. Saturday, March 1 while playing in the front yard of his home.
After heavy ground searches of the family’s property, the search effort by official marine rescue and dive teams and by volunteers in kayaks and fishing boats concentrated their efforts on the Siletz River a week ago after trackers found evidence of the boy on the river bank. The home of Chamet Jackson and Aaron Paulsen sits about 100 feet from the river.
The sheriff’s office said its investigators are processing the area where Dane’s body was found and that his family had been notified.
“The impact of this loss is felt by the entire community, and we join those grieving this unimaginable tragedy,” Sheriff Adam Shanks said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the family, who are facing an unbearable sorrow. “We are deeply grateful for the support and dedication shown by the search teams and our communities throughout this difficult time, though we wish it was under different circumstances.
“We understand that this news is incredibly painful, especially for Dane’s family and those who knew him,” Shanks said.
Recovery diver
Heredia began the search for Dane shortly after attending a memorial service for Chris Fowler, a man he had recovered in the Sacramento River last month.
Heredia, a realtor, has been a diver for more than 30 years and founded the nonprofit Angels Recovery Dive Team last year, according to The Stockton Record newspaper. He first recovered a drowned man in 1998, according to The Record.
Earlier this week, Heredia announced he would be heading to Oregon to help find Dane.
“I’ll be camping by the shore and diving as much as I can, doing everything possible to find him,” Heredia wrote on his Facebook page. “His family is waiting for answers, and I won’t stop until I’ve done everything in my power to bring him back.”
By Tuesday afternoon he posted that he had found Dane after two hours of diving.
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