OR OR - Paul Flores, 40, driving from CA to WA, broke down near Chemult, walked to gas stat to get a ride, car found on a forest road, 21 Jul 2024

[GuyfromCanada]

JUL 24, 2024

MOSES LAKE - A California man with Moses Lake ties has vanished under peculiar circumstances, according to his family. 40-year-old Paul Flores of Stockton, California was driving from his hometown to Moses Lake to visit his son, nieces and two grandchildren when he suddenly disappeared last Friday.

More at UPDATE: Man with Moses Lake ties disappears during road trip

“After keeping in touch with family (and) friends (that) his vehicle broke down in Crescent Lake, he was going to walk and pinged a location to a friend so he wouldn’t get lost,” the missing poster statement reads.

Flores was said to have sent another ping near the Pilot Truck Stop in Chemult.

More at Klamath County Sheriff's Office asks public to help find missing California resident

Missing Paul Flores

From Chemult, Oregon

missingpeopleinamerica.org

https://www.facebook.com/KlamathSheriff/posts/pfbid0VXS9FszqAJC5tmrmTLedT9rtUmHYKh6MG5XETj7sAcc3R7H2vVopT7nF1TyxLH1cl

What happened here? Paul has been missing for 3 months.

 

[GuyfromCanada]

Listed as missing on Oregon State Police Missing Persons (checked on 10/21/2024, have to search by name).

Oregon State Police : Missing Persons : Missing Persons : State of Oregon

missing people

www.oregon.gov

 

[GuyfromCanada]

Chemult has a population of about 80 people.

Chemult, Oregon - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Snoopster]

Is that poster correct? If so he's 5'0" and weighs 210 pounds. Looks like all muscle.

 

[Snoopster]

I was trying to understand the various locations and route for Paul's trip.

If I understand what was reported correctly, Paul would have passed through Chemult OR and his vehicle broke down near Crescent OR. He decided to walk back to Chemult (18 miles away). There is a gas station in Crescent (a 24-hour Shell) but it isn't a 'service station' with a car repair garage.

18 miles is a long walk a long, unpleasant walk along a highway. What would Paul achieve by walking all the way back to Chemult? Ultimately someone would have to look at his vehicle and it was up by Crescent. So why not call a tow truck to take it back to Chemult to be fixed. He could have gotten a ride in the truck.

google maps - Stockton to Moses Lake

 

[GuyfromCanada]

His car broke down, so it wasn't operable? And yet, the car was found on a forest road? How did the car get there? How is cell service in this area, is it bad?

 

[Oregons Vanished]

Is that poster correct? If so he's 5'0" and weighs 210 pounds. Looks like all muscle.

Yes, the poster is correct, I actually made the first missing flyer as we were waiting on LE to make theirs, and I got the height and weight from multiple family members, only think that was different is one person said 5' 1" and the rest said 5' 0" but weight stayed the same.

 

[Oregons Vanished]

His car broke down, so it wasn't operable? And yet, the car was found on a forest road? How did the car get there? How is cell service in this area, is it bad?

 

[Oregons Vanished]

There is no cell reception until you are close to the towns, you are literally in the forest otherwise and it probably depends on who you have your cell phone through as well. When Paul went missing what also when Oregon has over 1 million acres of land on fire, most of those fires were within 10-50 miles from where Paul was, and the smoke was very thick plus the weather was extremely hot. There were so many closed roads, even main highways had closures and there were evacuation sites everywhere.

As far as his vehicle not being operational, Paul did not think it was operational, no. So, it was about 6am (I think but could have been earlier) so no cars on the road in that area for people to see he needed help plus it is believed that in taking a short cut that he probably went up and over a steep embankment. He did somehow lose his shoes during this hike to the gas station which was proven to his family through surveillance videos from the gas station. When his vehicle was found, which was on Friday 7/26/24 by his brother Carlos the vehicle was in fact operational, and they did drive it all the way back to California with no problems. In Paul's defense, when I was out there for his search and for Kathleen Wilson's search, my check engine light came on and my car drove so terribly but after 4 days of being home it was driving fine and no lights where on, I was told by a mechanic that it would have been the smoke since it was really that thick, it was hard to see and even harder to breath at times.