Body of missing Warm Springs man found after search stopped due to weather
Published 3:36 pm Tuesday, April 18, 2023
- Lee Johnson
The body of Lee Johnson, a Warm Springs man who had been missing for more than a month, was found on Monday, Warm Springs Police Chief Crystal Levitt said in a press release.
Johnson, 67, was last seen on the morning of March 4, when he left his home in the Seekseequa area to cut firewood, the release said on Tuesday. He missed plans with his family later that evening.
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Warm Springs police Lt. Stephen Craig said the department does not suspect foul play in Johnson’s death and said police believe he died of “natural causes.”
“We don’t know exactly what was going on up there,” Craig said, adding that Johnson had gone to the area to cut wood and was found “quite a distance away from his vehicle.”
“We’re not sure why he would have walked away,” Craig said.
Johnson’s white Toyota Tacoma was found in the Upper Seekseequa area of the reservation on March 7, a previous news release from the police department said. Multiple other regional agencies joined the department in the search for Johnson, but it was eventually postponed due to weather.
“Several days of searching in the areas of Gray Butte and Juniper Butte (in Jefferson County) and the Seekseequa area of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation provided many leads; however, due to weather conditions in early March, the search had to be suspended for safety reasons,” Levitt said in the release.
Multiple searches resumed as weather improved, Levitt said. A drone team from Aloft Drones surveyed the area over which Johnson was thought to be during the weekend of April 14, Levitt said.
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Johnson isn’t the first Warm Springs man to go missing on the reservation within the past year.
Lewis Selam, 71, was last seen at Warm Springs Tribal Credit on March 16, 2022. Authorities found his car stuck in the snow near Mount Jefferson about 20 miles west of Warm Springs. Police called off a search for him on March 31, according to news reports.
“Although tragedy is never the outcome we hope for in these circumstances, we are thankful to have been able to locate the Johnson family’s loved one, so he can be laid to rest in a good way. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the Johnson family, as they continue to walk on in the absence of their loved one,” Levitt said.