BOISE, Idaho — Almost a year after Gwen Brunelle disappeared, the Malheur County Sheriff's Office said they have recovered her body with the help of a drone company and nonprofit her family enlisted to help.
Brunelle's remains were found a little more than two miles away from her car, which was off U.S. Highway 95 in eastern Oregon. They were just outside the sheriff's office search area, Sheriff Travis Johnson said.
Aloft Drone Search tipped them off. The Oregon non-profit helps law enforcement families find missing loved ones.
Founder John Jones said a team of volunteers saw what could be human remains while analyzing thousands of high-resolution photos Homedale-based drone company — Terravatta — sent them.
He said they sent the information to the sheriff's office on April 8. Deputies went to the location and found the remains that same day.
The family reached out to both companies for help.
"This was man hours and not software that found this," Jones said. "It's just basically blood, sweet, tears to find these things out. We’re super excited that we were successful and able to help, but at the same time, the reality of what we just found was someone's lost loved one's remains.”
Terravatta drone operator Jake Pool said he spent about four weeks taking photos throughout the 4,500-acre area. The family contacted him last fall.
"With the mixture of the terrain and the topography, it was really difficult to figure out where that specific spot was," he said, "and I think that having that aerial imagery from the bird's eye view helped us to identify where the remains were."
In late April, Johnson said the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office examined the remains and was able to confirm it was Brunelle with dental records.
Pool said it was "rewarding" hearing that all their hard work paid off.
"It made me happy to know that her family may be able to start experiencing some sense of closure and start being able to mourn and grieve the loss of the loss of Gwen," he said.
Gwen's parents declined an interview with KTVB. They still do not know how she died, but no foul play is suspected.
"To our family and friends and volunteers who helped in so many ways over the past 300 days, please know you have our eternal gratitude. This has been and will continue to be a difficult journey, but with your support we know we will get through it. A memorial service will be held in Boise in the coming weeks, and we will provide more details soon," her parents said in a statement on their website.
Here is a timeline of events:
On June 26, 2023, Brunelle informed her family and friends that she was headed to California on a solo road trip. She was last seen in Jordan Valley, Oregon, at a gas station on June 27, and later that day, she was reported missing.
On June 30, Brunelle's car was found her car was found on Succor Creek Road about four-tenths of a mile west of Highway 95. Several rescue crews, including Malheur County Search and Rescue, Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue, the Ontario Fire Department, and volunteers searched for Brunelle on foot, on horseback, and by using drones, dogs and UTVs.
On July 10, the search for Brunelle was called off. However, the family continued to look.
On September 22, a helicopter searcher found Brunelle's boots roughly 80 yards south of where the previous clue, her T-shirt, was found, according to an update her family posted on their website.
The T-shirt was the last clue prior to the boots. It was found tangled in a barbed wire fence earlier that month. The shirt was roughly 1.5 miles away from her abandoned vehicle - which investigators had located on June 30, four days after her disappearance.
"To see this many people coming together, giving of their time giving of their resources with nothing expected to return to try to help a fellow community member, it's pretty heartwarming to be a part," Johnson said.
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