Mother defends sheriff’s search after volunteer diver turned away at Dillon Falls

Published 6:52 am Thursday, July 24, 2025

Sheriff’s office says California volunteer wasn’t authorized to enter dangerous Dillon Falls area

The mother of the final person still missing after three people floated over Dillon Falls in inner tubes says she supports the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office approach to the recovery efforts after a California volunteer diver was turned away from the search effort.

The three people belonged to a group of six who were floating the stretch of river above Dillon Falls, 10 miles west of Bend, in inner tubes at around 3 p.m Saturday when they missed the last takeout point  above the dangerous, 15-foot waterfall. Earlier in the week, search and rescue teams located the bodies of Amanda Loyd, 40, of Rockwall Texas and Lindsay Bashan, 33, of Parkland, Florida — but the final man from the group is still missing.

Recently a video from volunteer rescue diver Juan Heredia of Stockton, California has circulated across social media claiming that he was threatened with arrest if he attempted to participate in the recovery effort below Dillon Falls.

“Out of respect for our family, I ask that people refrain from spreading false information, speculating, or interfering in this process. We especially ask that ‘Juan the Diver’ cease and desist from making further public comments or attempting to participate in the official search. His involvement has not been part of the coordinated response, and we do not want the hard work of these trained professionals questioned or disrupted,” the mother said, according to a statement released by the sheriff’s office. The woman was not identified, not has the name of the missing man been released.

Heredia tells a different story. He says that the sheriff’s office was aware that he was coming to Bend from his home in California to help the rescue divers and that several community members were helping him coordinate a staging area on the Deschutes River. But when he arrived at the falls earlier this week and asked where the best put-in point was, officers told him he he was not allowed within the search area.

“They don’t care. Their ego is so big that they don’t see what the family is going through. That’s where I’m coming from, to go and try to find them as soon as possible so that they can have an open casket funeral. But to them they are bodies. For me, they have names. They are dons, they are daughters, and I don’t get paid for this,” Heredia said in an interview with The Bulletin.

Over the past year Heredia has successfully located the bodies of several drowning victims, including 2-year-old Dane Paulsen, who was missing for 11 days in March after he slipped into the Siletz River below his family’s home in Lincoln County. But after his encounter with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, Heredia he says he does not plan to continue as a volunteer recovery diver.

“My wife says, ‘you’re going to change your mind when somebody calls you.’ But not this time, not until the laws change,” Heredia said.

Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Jason Carr said that the agency was not aware that Heredia was coming to aid in the recovery effort. He also confirmed what Heredia said about being denied access to the search area.

“He was told repeatedly that he was not allowed to be in the search area. He was given options to be in the water outside the search area and he refused to comply with the officer speaking with him at the time,” Carr said. “People say that it’s easy to find and one person can get in the water and just find the body right away. That’s just not an accurate statement. It’s a lot more complicated than that.”

The recovery effort Wednesday focused on the area right at the end of the falls, Carr said. The Oregon State Marine Board came in with side scanners, which allowed recovery divers to detect debris and other things in the water. The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office also brought an underwater drone to search in areas determined too dangerous for divers to be in.

“We will continue to reassess every day what the next step will be, but there is absolutely activity and operations that will continue every day for the foreseeable future,” Carr said.