The body of a 76-year-old Hermiston man was found Thursday afternoon at the bottom of a grain elevator on Juniper Canyon Road outside of Helix.
The Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office received the initial report on Wednesday, May 22 shortly after 9 p.m. Friends and family reported Larry Rawe was missing. Rawe ran his own pest control business. That morning he had left his residence with an expectation he would return home in the afternoon, according to a press release from the sheriff’s office.
When he did not return, his wife called friends and they began looking and located his vehicle parked at the grain elevators off Juniper Canyon Road near Fergies Road. They also located his bait bucket inside one of the grain elevators, but they found no sign of Raw. They noticed a closed trap door in the elevator that led to a basement sump filled with water, but still no sign of Rawe. They speculated that he might have fallen into the sump, but there was no evidence to indicate he had and the trap door was closed. Later in the afternoon, friends begin searching the surrounding area, including the use of a privately-owned helicopter.
When that search ended with no results, they called the sheriff’s office at approximately 9:30 p.m. Shortly after, sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene and the patrol sergeant on the scene requested assistance from East Umatilla Fire. They placed a man down onto a gangway in the sump area and probed into the water. Nothing was found. Local hospitals were contacted to see if anyone had come in injured.
At approximately 10:30 pm., Umatilla County Search and Rescue (UMASAR) was activated. UMASAR set up an incident command and began a coordinated search of the area that lasted through the night. The search included ground searchers and a search the area using a drone with infrared. Additional searchers again descended into the gangway of the sump area and used a grappling hook to sweep the water in the area, but nothing was located. A K9 team also responded using an article belonging to Rawe to follow a scent trail.
On Thursday morning, based on the overnight results, search coordinators made the decision to drain the sump. Late in the afternoon, the body of Rawe was located and recovered.
This was a very sad and difficult outcome. Our thoughts and condolences are with the family during this difficult time. Thank you to all those involved in the search.
