Search team finds the body of Mt. Angel man previously missing in rural Douglas County

Update April 16, 2019

The body of a 30-year-old Mt. Angel man was located Sunday morning two months after he went missing in the Umpqua National Forest.

Douglas County Search and Rescue volunteers returned to the Clearwater area and located Jeffery Vance just before noon.

Vance went missing Feb. 3 after he became separated from friend Anthony Fennimore, 29, of Salem. 

Fennimore told deputies he and Vance walked away from their pickup after they had experienced car troubles on Friday, Feb. 1 in the area of Clearwater and separated Sunday morning.

Fennimore found his way to a store in Glide on Highway 138 (North Umpqua Highway) and alerted authorities on the evening of Feb. 4.

Searchers located the pair's maroon 2008 Chevrolet Colorado on Feb. 6.

Search efforts were halted Feb. 9 because of heavy snowfall and didn't resume until Sunday. 

Before halting the search, Vance's wife, Halie, said investigators told her they had narrowed his location but could not continue looking because of snow piled 10 to 12 feet high. 

Vance said she was at work Sunday when she received a call that her husband had been found. 

While she is unsure exactly where he was found, Vance said it took the team more than five hours to retrieve his body. 

After a two-month wait, Vance said hearing the news was "terrible."

"I'm not naive," she said. "No one can be out there that long in the snow, but I was secretly hoping...he was hiding out and would show up. But I knew better."

The Douglas County Medical Examiner's Office is conducting a death investigation, but authorities say there are no immediate indications of foul play.

Halie described Jeff as someone who could make everyone laugh and happy. "That's what he was good at," she said. 

Virginia Barreda is the Breaking News Reporter with the Statesman Journal. She can be reached at 503-399-6657 or at vbarreda@statesmanjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2.