Lane County searchers find remains of missing Eugene man near Hall Road

Lane County Sheriff’s Search & Rescue crews and a detective returned to the Hall Road area west of Cheshire on April 9 and recovered the remains of 63-year-old Jonathan Allen House of Eugene after clearing a path through dense overgrowth with chainsaws and hand tools.

The Lane County Sheriff’s Office identified the case as 25-1277 and said there is no indication a crime occurred. Authorities have not released a cause of death, and the investigation remains open.

House was last known to be in the 25600 block of Hall Road in mid-March 2025, after his pickup was found crashed into a tree in the rural road network west of Junction City. Family members and investigators said his phone died after a “distressing” call on March 15, 2025, and the search that followed stretched across steep, heavily wooded terrain in the Coast Range foothills.

In the weeks after he disappeared, searchers covered about 500 acres on foot and about 50 miles of roadway. Teams used drones, K-9 units, ground searchers and assistance from Eugene Mountain Rescue, while deputies and detectives spent about 40 hours reviewing cell phone data and area camera footage. The recovery more than a year later underscored how long a case can remain active when a missing person is last seen in remote country with thick vegetation and limited access.

House’s disappearance drew particular attention because he was identified as a member and elder of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. Lane County officials thanked the Search & Rescue volunteers and assisting organizations that spent hundreds of hours on the effort, including the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Search & Hope Alliance and Lane Fire Authority.

The case also highlights how much Lane County depends on volunteers when people go missing in difficult terrain. LCSO Search & Rescue Coordinator Tim Chase has said the county relies on roughly 150 volunteers who handle about 100 to 150 missions each year, and the volunteer corps has donated more than 25,000 hours in a recent year. In a county where brush, ridgelines and old logging roads can swallow a search area, that capacity often determines how far and how fast crews can push into the woods.