Family Rallies in Eugene for Missing Siletz Tribal Member Manny Bayya

Detective Brandon Rich took over as lead investigator on Manuel Joseph "Manny" Bayya's missing-person case roughly eight months ago, one of the few concrete procedural developments in a four-year investigation that has yet to produce answers. On Thursday, Bayya's sister Lacy Amelia Murillo and community supporters marched through downtown Eugene directly to the Lane County Sheriff's Office steps to make sure that doesn't become a reason to stop trying.

Bayya, a Siletz tribal member who was 47 when he disappeared, was last seen in Elmira on March 7, 2022. The red sport-bike motorcycle he commonly rode also vanished. His National Missing and Unidentified Persons System case, number MP94342, remains open.

Murillo organized the March 27 rally with groups focused on missing and murdered Indigenous relatives. Participants gathered at 11:30 a.m. across four downtown Eugene parks, split by last name so the march could converge into a single procession: Skinner Park for surnames A through F, Washington-Jefferson Park for G through L, Alton Baker Park for M through R, and Charnel Mulligan Park for S through Z.

"Manuel going missing really changed my life," Murillo said. "I got clean and sober a month after he went missing." She has spent the years since in near-constant contact with investigators, posting regularly on social media about her brother, and wearing a shirt bearing his face in public.

Rich acknowledged Murillo's role directly. "His sister's been super helpful. One, just getting me in touch with people. Two, keeping his name out there," he said. "Hopefully people come forward and give us tips or information if they haven't. But, it's definitely still top of my list and we're still actively working [the case] so I can't make a ton of comments about it." Rich said he welcomes any information, including secondhand accounts and rumors.

The last confirmed account of Bayya places him in Elmira on March 7, 2022. He is described as 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, with brown hair, brown eyes, and a half-sleeve tattoo on his upper left arm. He was known to travel between Lane and Lincoln counties.

Organizers framed Thursday's march within a broader pattern of unresolved cases involving Native Americans, pointing to gaps in interagency coordination and culturally responsive outreach that advocates say complicate investigations involving Indigenous people. Murillo and other organizers asked attendees to carry signs, wear culturally significant items, and spread case details within their own networks.

Anyone with information, including dashcam or cellphone footage from the Elmira area around March 7, 2022, can contact the Lane County Sheriff's Office at 541-682-4150, option 1.