Missing person may be caught in rapids at Dillon Falls, sheriff’s office says

The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday that the Deschutes Basin Board of Control will temporarily drop water levels in the river to help rescuers search for a person still missing after rafting accident around two weeks ago.

“To aid in operations, irrigation districts will temporarily reduce flows in the Deschutes River beginning Friday, August 1. Recreationists and irrigators may notice reduced flows through Monday, August 4,” the announcement said.

Reduced water levels will help swift water teams get to “key locations” to find the remaining person from a group of six that went over the falls on July 19. Three people survived the deadly incident. That still missing person is presumed deceased but their identity will not be released until they are located, according to the sheriffs office.

A group of people set up a large drone at the edge of Dillon Falls on Tuesday to look for the last missing person, but did not locate them.

After nearly two weeks of searching, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Jason Carr said the body is likely caught in the rapids. Carr said divers can’t get into the rapids because of the high degree of danger.

Instead, swift water experts are searching with help from drone pilots and cadaver dogs.

The dogs continue to pick up human scent below the falls, Carr said. Bodies of two people who died in the accident where previously found where the rapids meet the calmer water, he added. That area has been thoroughly searched and teams are now focusing upriver.

Meanwhile, people continue to recreate along the Dillon Falls take-out and day use area.

Jules Love and her daughter were visiting from Washington on Tuesday. A member of their party told Love about the incident just as they were walking along the path toward the falls.

“It’s another big awakening for the community, to really just be conscious of our environment,” Love said. She teaches in a nature school, where she takes her students out to bodies of water. Safety is a top priority for her. She said she would offer a prayer to the waters before leaving the river.

Grace Googins grew up visiting Bend often and has now lived in the recreation destination for about five years.

She said the Dillon Falls incident will change how she tells people about this section of river, and she’ll emphasize that it’s still a large body of water that can be dangerous.

In 2022, a man went over the falls in an inner tube and died.

In 2018, a father and daughter wearing life preservers went over the falls after their canoe tipped over. They were unable to swim to shore. The father, who was visiting his daughter from out of town, was pronounced dead on the river’s edge after first responders were unable to resuscitate him.

The section of the river is classified as Class 5 rapids. That’s the second-most dangerous category of rapids and considered extremely difficult.

Deschutes County rescue teams will continue searching for the missing person.