A Hiker Just Found the Body of a Man Who Had Been Missing for Two Months

On Saturday, February 7, a hiker in Southern Oregon stumbled upon the remains of a man who had been missing for nearly two months.

The hiker was recreating about 15 miles southeast of Ashland, inside the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. In a February 10 Facebook post, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) identified the man as 60-year-old Damon Lee Petrie of Eugene.

Local media outlets, including Ashland.news and Rogue Valley Times, first reported the incident.

“Our condolences go out to his family and friends,” wrote the JCSO. The office did not identify the hiker who found Petrie’s remains.

Petrie was last seen on December 15, 2025, the JCSO said. He was officially reported missing three days later, according to a Facebook post shared by The AWARE Foundation, a national nonprofit that assists in missing persons cases.

“According to his family, he was traveling with a friend to visit someone in White City, Oregon, but they say [Petrie] got out of the car near Green Springs Inn and never returned,” wrote AWARE. Green Springs Inn is a forest lodge inside the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.

“After waiting about two hours, the friend looked for him but couldn’t find him,” AWARE continued.

After Petrie was reported missing by an anonymous person, JCSO deputies, detectives, and search and rescue personnel conducted extensive searches in the area. JCSO Public Information Officer Aaron Lewis told Rogue Valley Times that he was unable to name the tipster. He added that the individual also gave “inaccurate information” that hindered early search efforts.

The area where Petrie disappeared is part of the 114,000-acre Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, a densely forested swathe of southern Oregon at the convergence of three distinct mountain ranges, the Cascades, Siskiyou, and Klamath. The elevation in the monument ranges from 2,000 feet to above 6,000 feet. The Green Springs Inn, where Petrie vanished, is at around 4,500 feet. At this altitude, mid-December temperatures can plunge well below freezing, and snowpack can obscure trails.

Authorities are conducting an autopsy and toxicology report, but haven’t announced the cause or manner of Petrie’s death yet

Outside contacted the JCSO and the AWARE Foundation for more information about Petrie’s death, and will update this article if a response is received.