Missing Lorane woman found dead in remote Cottage Grove area
Search crews found 88-year-old Marjorie Ann Gray dead in steep Mosby Creek terrain, after her SUV was spotted stuck more than 10 miles behind a private gate.
Lane County deputies and volunteer search crews found 88-year-old Marjorie Ann Gray dead in steep terrain east of Cottage Grove after a weeklong search in the Mosby Creek area. Her white 2003 Dodge Durango was located around 1:30 p.m. June 22, stuck in trees at the end of a gravel logging road more than 10 miles behind a private gate.
Gray had been last seen June 12 at her home in the 27000 block of Lorane Orchard Road in Lorane. The Lane County Sheriff’s Office learned June 17 that she was missing, and her vehicle, bearing Oregon license plates 684-CVQ, was also gone. Crews later found Gray’s body several hundred yards from the SUV.
The search drew the Lane County Sheriff’s Office, Lane County Search and Rescue volunteers, Oregon State Police and an Oregon State Police search dog. Deputies and volunteers worked the area on foot before locating Gray in the rugged ground above Mosby Creek, where limited access and steep timberland can make even a short distance hard to cover quickly.
The sheriff’s office said the case remains under investigation, but there is currently no indication of a crime. That distinction matters in Lane County’s remote west-side hills and logging roads, where a vehicle stuck off the main route can leave search crews trying to work out whether they are dealing with a crash, a medical emergency or a missing person who may have walked away from the vehicle.
Lane County Search and Rescue responds 24 hours a day to lost, injured or missing people under ORS 404.200. The county says its Ground Search and Rescue unit has about 120 active volunteers, making it the largest and most active of the county’s eight search-and-rescue teams. The sheriff’s office thanked the Oregon State Police, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and community members who helped in the effort.
The search also underscored the risks for hikers, drivers and rural residents who head into Lane County’s backcountry without a reliable travel plan. County guidance advises people to leave someone a route note, expected return time and gear list before going out. In country like Mosby Creek, where roads can end at private gates and logging spurs disappear into trees, those details can shape how quickly a missing person is found.
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