DCSO identifies Bend man, 41, who died going over Dillon Falls on inner tube

(Update: Sheriff's office releases victim's name)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office on Thursday released the name of a 41-year-old Bend man who died Tuesday when he went over turbulent Dillon Falls on the Deschutes River on an inner tube.

Deputies identified the victim as Maximillian Zelaya.

County dispatchers got a 911 call around 5:25 p.m. Tuesday regarding a man who was missing after going over the falls southwest of Bend, said Deputy Shane Zook, assistant Search and Rescue coordinator.

The initial information from the caller was that a man in a tube had gone over the falls 30 to 35 minutes earlier and bystanders had not been able to find him, Zook said.

Sheriff’s deputies, U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officers and Bend Fire & Rescue responded to the scene to begin searching for Zelaya, the deputy said.

Around 6:20 p.m., a deputy operating a drone located Zelaya's body in the river, just below the falls. The deputy provided the coordinates to Bend Fire & Rescue, which found the body and removed him from the water.

Sheriff’s Search and Rescue responded with a motorboat and transported Zelaya to the Aspen Boat Launch.

The sheriff’s office thanked those who helped at the scene, “as it was a team effort by all involved,” Zook said.

A Visit Bend post notes that Dillon Falls “are a significant obstacle to whitewater running and are rated Class 5. … Dillon Falls starts off as a dramatic, 15-foot drop, then becomes a steep and violent Class 5 rapids with a hazardously positioned tree in the center before ending as Class 2 and 3.”