‘Keeping our hopes high.’ Pocatello teen’s family determined to recover his body

POCATELLO — There’s been no sign of a Pocatello teenager who went into the Snake River about 300 yards from the American Falls Reservoir on Dec. 6, but that won’t keep his family from searching for his body and bringing him home.

Emergency crews searched the river and the reservoir for almost two weeks, but time and weather were not on their side. Authorities called off the official search and recovery effort for the teen on Monday.

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Jayden’s family had been searching alongside the professionals for that entire time. They organized their own search groups based out of Willow Bay RV Park in American Falls. Shawn was “a man on a mission,” a family friend said on the Bringing Jayden Home Facebook page, often walking the shoreline or out on a boat with sonar teams.

Described as “very steadfast,” by the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office, the Jensen family, their friends and community supporters aren’t giving up on bringing Jayden home. Their search and recovery efforts continue, with the warmer weather this week bringing new hope.

“With the warmer weather, some areas have melted,” the family posted on Tuesday. “We will open command tomorrow at 10 a.m. and keep searching. … Keeping our hopes high.”

Ice is still a challenge, even with the warmer weather. It limits boat access, so there was one boat out on the water Wednesday afternoon. Another may be coming later in the week, Shawn says.

Meanwhile, searchers on foot and in ATVs and side-by-sides are checking shorelines. Drones are in the air, providing a wide view.

“We’re trying to hit the entire shoreline every day,” Shawn says.

The reservoir has about 100 miles of shoreline.

Temperatures are supposed to dip into the 20s again on Saturday, with winds picking up and possibly snow as well. Volunteers will be searching the reservoir until it is physically impossible to do so, Shawn said.

If Jayden isn’t found before then, Shawn says the family and search and rescue teams are ready to get back at it as soon as possible in the spring.

“That’s the plan,” Chief Deputy Jordyn Nebeker of the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office told EastIdahoNews.com. Once temperatures are once again over 40 degrees, the chances of success will be much better.

Long before he disappeared into the water while hunting with friends, Jayden was known and loved in his Pocatello community. The longer he was missing, the more the community came together. As businesses and individuals donated time, food and funds, it became clear that Jayden would leave a legacy of kindness, love and respect.

“We were impressed by how much Jayden has affected so many people’s lives and how adored and loved he was in the community,” his family posted on the href=”https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554578162196″ rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>Bringing Jayden Home Facebook page

RELATED | Community, searchers still determined in effort to find and recover Jayden Jensen

Jayden was the type of person who lived life on his terms, Shawn Jensen, Jayden’s father, told EastIdahoNews.com on Wednesday. He loved to be outdoors. Every year on his birthday in January, Jayden would go camping. And Jayden “loved his vehicles,” Shawn says.

He recalls when Jayden was 6, he tweaked his sister’s Barbie Jeep Power Wheels so it went about 20 mph. Shawn found him one day in the garage, driving the pink Jeep around the truck, drifting at each corner.

“He would drift that thing like nobody’s business,” he said, laughing.

As a teen, Jayden started working on real vehicles. He and a group of friends would get together and work on their square-body trucks. Jayden’s pet project was his 1985 Ford Bronco — a project he was working on with his dad.

“He was breaking it as fast as we could fix it,” Shawn says.

Now, Shawn will have to finish the truck on his own.

Jayden put the people he loved first, Shawn says.

“This will tell you the kind of person that he (was),” he says before launching into a story about his son.

Last winter, Jayden and his girlfriend were driving to school together. He was driving Shawn’s truck — an F250 diesel — on icy roads. When he was cut off by another driver, the truck started to slide.

“He was sliding toward a light pole,” Shawn says. “It was going to hit on his girlfriend’s side.”

Jayden cranked the wheel, bringing the truck around so it hit on his side.

It’s just one of “so many” memories that he has of his son. Others have come forward with memories of their own and shared them with the family.

Crystal Curtis, Jayden’s aunt, recalled a man who showed up to help with the search a couple of days ago.

“He said that Jayden was the first one who came up to his girls and befriended them and made them feel like they belonged,” she says. The father told her his family had just moved into town, and his daughters were having a hard time adjusting.

“Jayden helped them with it,” Crystal says. “(Their dad) was like, ‘I have no problem being out here looking for him.'”

Shawn says they are trying to make plans for a celebration of life for Jayden. It has been difficult to search and make plans. For now, they have tentatively set the date for Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. A venue hasn’t been chosen yet, says Shawn.

“With all the lives that have been touched, it may have a pretty big place,” he says tearfully.