Coos County, OR. – Official Release: On November 9, 2024 at about 1834 hours, North Coos Dispatch Center was contacted by a third party in the state of Utah who was reporting that Angela German had called her and reported that her five year old autistic child, Joshua McCoy was missing. Deputies from the Coos County Sheriff’s Office responded utilizing emergency lights and siren in order to get to the scene located at 70362 Stage Road which is located in the unincorporated community of Hauser. While responding, deputies requested that the Hauser Fire Department respond in order to assist with the search for Joshua. The Coos County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Coordinator, Deputy Justin Gray, was on duty at the time and contacted Search and Rescue K9 elements as well as Coos Bay Fire with a thermal imaging drone to respond. Deputy Gray later took the additional step of conducting a ping on the phone which was identified as belonging to Joshua in an attempt to get real time data on Josh’s location, only to find that the phone was in Airplane mode and could not be located by the phone carrier.
Ms. German’s home was immediately searched as was the surrounding property. An “Attempt to Locate” or ATL bulletin was issued for Joshua and disseminated state wide as deputies were locating no evidence which would point to where Joshua could be. Deputies and Search and Rescue personnel remained at the location until about 5:30 am on November 10, 2024 searching for Joshua on and around the property, without any success in locating him. Later that morning, members of the Coos County Search and Rescue Team as well as Deputies from the Coos County Sheriff’s Office continued the search for Joshua after daylight. During this time, further investigative interviews were conducted with Ms. German. By the end of November 10, 2024 no further information had been obtained regarding Joshua’s whereabouts and the decision was made to activate the California, Oregon Search and Rescue team (CORSAR) to obtain additional assistance and assets to assist in finding Joshua. Members from CORSAR agencies, trained volunteer searchers and equipment were sent to Coos County to assist in finding Joshua on November 11, 2024.
It is important to note that during any Search and Rescue there is an investigation which is conducted in order to attempt to determine the cause of the disappearance. The reason of the investigation is to glean clues as to the missing person’s whereabouts and to ensure that no crimes may have been committed which may have caused the disappearance.
The search and a simultaneous investigation continued on with CORSAR for another day and Joshua was sadly found deceased on November 12, 2024. During the intervening period, personnel from “Team Adam” an element of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children who assists in locating missing children responded as did several members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who provided investigative and technical support responded and worked alongside Coos County Sheriff’s Office Deputies, Deputies and Sergeants from the CORSAR callout and investigators from the Oregon State Police. The investigative efforts were aimed at locating any and all evidence which could lead to finding Joshua. At the end of November 12, 2024, Joshua was located some distance from the residence in a timberland area north of the Stage Road address.
There were articulable facts regarding the investigation which raised concerns on how Joshua got to the location he was found. Bottom line, investigators found the matter suspicious in nature and set out to attempt to determine what exactly happened to Joshua. Search warrant affidavits were authored to assist investigators in locating any evidence of what happened to Joshua. It is important to note that affidavits do not allege crimes against people. Search Warrant Affidavits are authored in order to ensure that investigators are meeting the constitutional threshold to search for evidence of potential crimes with judicial approval over any needs or wants of the owner of that property. This is to protect evidence which may be stolen and to locate evidence which is believed to be at that location with articulable evidence already located. The search warrant affidavit specifies the crime in which investigators are investigating, but does not lay out that an individual may have committed that crime, only that evidence of the crime may be found at that location. Individuals are charged with crimes by the Coos County District Attorney’s Office using all available evidence which may include evidence located during the course of a search warrant.
An autopsy was conducted on Joshua’s remains which showed that Joshua had died of hypothermia which is the lowering of the body temperature when exposed to the outside elements. Elements of the autopsy are still being analyzed, and a final report has not been issued.
In the following days and weeks search warrants were executed upon digital evidence and property seized during this case. During the course of reviewing the evidence obtained, digital evidence was located from Joshua’s phone which led investigators to reasonably believe that Joshua had walked away from the home while Ms. German was sleeping. Although there are still laboratory results which have not been received, the evidence is now pointing to these articulable facts. While an investigation is ongoing, no specific information is released to the public until it has been reviewed by the District Attorney’s Office to ensure that a crime has not been committed and to protect the parties involved in the investigation. It is as important for investigators to prove innocence of involved parties as it is to prove guilt.
The Coos County Sheriff’s Office mourns Joshua. As members of this community who are sworn to protect, the Coos County Sheriff’s Office spared no expense and exhausted every appropriate measure available to us to try to find Joshua. The facts of Search and Rescue is that steep and dangerous terrain is often traversed, our Search and Rescue members put in hours of training time to look for clues, preserve evidence which may be part of an investigation and survive under harsh conditions. If anyone is interested in helping out in search and rescue missions in the future, they are encouraged to volunteer by applying at the Coos County Sheriff’s Office to become a SAR volunteer.
“Police action is not indicative of guilt. All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law”
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