SILETZ, Ore. — Missing 2-year-old Dane Paulsen has been found dead, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Tuesday afternoon. The toddler went missing from his home in Siletz on March 1, quickly sparking an intense search effort that drew in hundreds of volunteers and continued for the past 10 days.
The sheriff’s office confirmed that Dane’s body had been found in the Siletz River at around 11:13 a.m. Tuesday morning, about three miles downstream from the family’s home. Investigators with the sheriff’s office are currently processing the scene, according to a news release at 2:17 p.m., and are working with the county medical examiner’s office.
The body was found by an independent diver, Juan Heredia of the Angels Recovery Dive Team, who had volunteered his services and began searching areas downstream from where the sheriff’s office divers had been operating, according to the news release.
“Our thoughts are with the family, who are facing an unbearable sorrow,” Lincoln County Sheriff Adam Shanks said in a statement. “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.”
Dane was last seen at around 4:30 p.m. March 1, playing in the yard of his family’s house, which is about 100 feet from the river. His family reported him missing, and local authorities began searching that evening. Multiple agencies joined the search effort the following day, bringing in resources like divers, K-9 units and drones with thermal imaging.
The FBI joined the investigation and search efforts on the third day, along with hundreds of volunteers from across the Pacific Northwest. Authorities kept the search effort focused on the river, deploying underwater search methods and using boats to cover approximately 14 miles of the river.
Since early in the search, the sheriff’s office has said that there is no evidence of criminal activity in Dane’s disappearance. Authorities initially identified a late 1990s station wagon seen in the area as a vehicle of interest but determined by the third day of the search that the car and its owner weren’t relevant to the investigation.