This story has been updated from the original to include information about an incident involving the missing male and his connection to a transient staying at a motel in Sweet Home.
The body of a Lebanon man who was reported missing four years ago was found Monday, March 4, east of Foster Lake.
Holden Reed Kinsey, who was 25 at the time of his disappearance, was found near milepost 34 on Highway 20 when a tree trimming company was clearing limbs along the highway.
Kinsey was reported missing on Jan. 11, 2020, by his mother after an apparent dispute earlier that month. Reports indicate she reported he left their Lebanon residence on Jan. 2 and she hadn’t seen him since. She also told police her son had mental health issues that he wasn’t treating, he had no friends, he rarely left home, and he’d made statements that caused her to be concerned he would harm himself. He was last seen wearing a black hoodie, black long sleeve shirt, black pants and black shoes, and he might be in possession of a firearm and knife.
During investigations a month later, Sweet Home police learned Kinsey had used the bathroom at Steelhead Fitness in Sweet Home a few times in January, and on Jan. 31 he was staying at the Sun Motel in Sweet Home. He had paid for his own room, as well as two nights for the room of 77-year-old Louis Ennis. Police were called to the motel on Feb. 4, 2020, when Ennis’ body was found in his room. An autopsy revealed Ennis died from natural causes. Witnesses described a male likely to be Kinsey leaving Ennis’ room and taking off in Ennis’ truck on the same day Ennis was last seen.
The truck was found not an hour later on Highway 20 near milepost 33, just east of the intersection of Santiam Highway and Quartzville Road. It had been crashed and left abandoned, with Kinsey’s backpack left inside.
More than a year later, in April 2021, a new case officer took over Kinsey’s missing person case and, on Aug. 9, 2021, Linn County Search and Rescue conducted a search around Kinsey’s last known location, but no further leads were found. A report indicated Kinsey’s last known location was about a mile east of where the truck was located more than a year earlier, but it’s unclear how that location was determined.
Three Type 2 search assignments were requested. This would be a grid search wherein searchers space out at approximately double-arm intervals and slowly traverse the terrain in front of them.
- Conduct a five-person Type 2 search of the area to the north of Santiam Highway around Kinsey’s last known position. The terrain was described as a near-vertical drop from the highway down several hundred feet to Foster Lake and was covered with heavy trees and undergrowth. The search was to be conducted using high-angle rope equipment with specially-trained rope rescue SAR members. The SAR members were picked up at the water’s edge and dropped back off at the starting point for another pass.
- Conduct a Type 2 search with 11 rescuers along the south side of Santiam Highway from the last known position to Cascade Timber Consulting Company road, South Santiam 200.
- Conduct a Type 2 search with 11 rescuers along the south of Santiam Highway from the South Santiam 200 road, east approximately 100 yards.
Furthermore, Linn County Sheriff’s Office conducted multiple flights over the search areas using a drone.
This story will be updated as more information is obtained.