Lane County Sheriff’s Office deputies are searching for a Junction City man who’s car was pulled from a river on Sunday.
Deputies say Edgar Daran-Valez, 21, of Junction City was last seen leaving in the early morning hours of December 16th. He left his place of work at about 2 a.m. and was headed for home in Junction City, but never arrived.
His family filed a missing person report that afternoon, and that evening began searching for him.
Around midnight they found evidence of a motor vehicle crash on High Pass Road at a bridge across the Long Tom River. Deputies say evidence suggested a vehicle left the road and ended up in the river, but a car was not visible.
Deputies responded on the morning of December 17th and found something they believed to be a car submerged in water downstream from the crash scene.
The Lane County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team was activated and attempted to recover the vehicle, but was not able to due to safety concerns and high current in the area.
On the morning of the 19th, family and friends were able to locate the vehicle once again and attach a buoy to it.
The buoy and decreased flow of water provided by the US Army Corps of Engineers allowed the dive team to recover the vehicle Sunday afternoon, but the body of Daran-Valez was not inside.
The search is ongoing for Daran-Valez. Deputies say there is no evidence of criminal activity related to this case.
