Mom of missing Medford man speaks out as search efforts are called off

MEDFORD, Ore — The mother of a man that was first reported missing out of northern California, is detailing the last time she saw her son.

22-year-old Tyler Evans was confirmed missing after his car was found in Siskiyou County. Jackson County Search and Rescue later found his dog about 60 miles north on Crowfoot road in Trail on March 19th.

RELATED: Jackson county Search and Rescue ‘actively’ working on leads for missing man, sergeant says

Evans’ mother, Sara Champion, told NBC5 that he visited her in Medford on March 8th. Champion said Tyler told her that he was going on a trip with his friends.

Later on, Champion said Tyler notified his friends that he would not be going on a trip with them without explanation. Because the group often hangs out together, they share each other’s cell phone location.

Champion said Tyler lost contact with them in the Applegate area.

“His friends started calling me and told me that he lost signal and started heading out towards Applegate,” Champion said. “It wasn’t abnormal for him. The abnormal part was that he wasn’t going to go on this important trip that he wanted to go on. He camps all of the time so I didn’t think anything bad of it for days. It’s not unlike him to go in the woods by himself and he had his dog with him.”

Search crews and family members went to search for him in various different hiking areas from where his car was found. Jackson County S.A.R. said Monday, that it was shifting its focus to potential leads on Evans.

NBC5 learned and confirmed with Champion, that Evans currently has criminal charges against him. S.A.R. noted that the charges do not have an effect on its search efforts to find him.

“If anybody can just tell me that he’s okay, its all I care about. I’m not mad at him. So many people love him.” said Champion.

Tyler’s stepmother Donelle Hansen-Evans wrote a final update in a Facebook post Monday, sharing to followers that they called off the search.

“We found nothing. We are heartbroken beyond belief, we may share more with you all down the road but for now, we seek only your love and support.” said Hansen-Evans

Anyone with information is asked to either contact the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office or the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office

This remains a developing story and more details will be released in a follow up post.

UPDATE: This article has been updated to correctly attribute a quote above to Sara Champion, not ‘Evans’. NBC5 News regrets the error.

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