Tribe leads urgent search for missing man last seen in Klamath

Brandyone “Brandon” Salazar, 23, was last seen in Klamath in the early morning hours of March 22. The Pulikla Tribe of Yurok People has spent months organizing a search for him. The search has centered on the Klamath River because Salazar’s phone later pinged near the water, and Fawn Murphy, his cousin and the tribe’s chairperson, has coordinated daily volunteer plans.

He was last seen around 2 a.m. after leaving the Country Club Bar & Grill. He was near Klamath Boulevard and Ehlers Avenue in Klamath, Del Norte County, and was on foot. He later texted a friend asking for a pickup near a boat launch by the river, but he was gone when the friend arrived. A Yurok Tribal public safety officer saw him jump a fence, and his sweatshirt became caught, leaving behind a piece of evidence that investigators collected.

The California Highway Patrol issued a Feather Alert after Salazar was reported missing. The state’s missing-person alert system is used for suspicious or unexplained disappearances of Indigenous people, and the statewide program was authorized beginning January 1, 2023, after Assembly Bill 1314 became law. The California Department of Justice maintains a missing-person record for Salazar.

Salazar is 5 feet 7 inches tall, 145 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a white shirt, black Nike or jogger pants and white shoes. Officers initially encountered him after reports of disruptive behavior and considered giving him a ride home before he was later seen heading toward the boat ramp at the old Klamath townsite.

The Yurok Tribe's identity and cultural lifeways are tied to the lower Klamath River watershed, and tribal officials hired an investigator in 2023 to work on missing and murdered Indigenous people cases in the North Coast region. Salazar’s family says he was deeply involved in tribal traditions, including ceremonial dances and traditional eeling, and his mother, Brandy Mendoza, described him as the eldest boy in the family and a protective older brother who would not simply disappear.