UPDATE: A woman missing since Saturday has been found safe and in good health in Roseburg, the Washington County Sheriff's Office reported.
Based on a tip from the public, Lane County deputies located missing 23-year-old Demi Helenius Tuesday evening around 8:30 p.m. in Roseburg, police said.
Roseburg is about 60 miles south of Creswell, where Helenius' phone was found Saturday night.
The family released the following statement on Wednesday:
We were happy and relieved to find out Demi was found safe Tuesday evening.
Most importantly at this time, we would like to express our gratitude to the Lane county and Washington county sheriffs, all the news networks that kept running the story, everyone who kept us in their thoughts and prayer, anyone who shared the posts on social media and the amazing people who generously took time out of their lives to hand out fliers and talk to people and businesses.
We were overwhelmed with the love and support we felt during this tough time. It definitely restored our faith in humanity.
We could not have found her without everyone's exhausted efforts.
The Culley Family
****
PORTLAND, Ore. — Police have found the car of missing Rock Creek woman Demi Helenius in the small town of Cottage Grove in central Oregon, police said Monday.
Helenius, 23, went missing from a self-help conference in Portland Saturday night, police said. Cottage Grove is about 130 miles south of Portland.
A preliminary examination of Helenius' car, a 2013 Volkswagen Bug, found no evidence of foul play, police said.
The car was taken to the Oregon State Police crime lab in Portland where it will be processed more thoroughly.
Detectives are still looking for Demi Helenius. She vanished Saturday. These are pics of her car found in Cottage Grove #FindDemi pic.twitter.com/BvMAQcMuIv
— Mike Benner (@MikeBennerKGW) August 8, 2017
Saturday night, Helenius' phone was given to a worker at a Dairy Queen in Creswell, Oregon, which is about nine miles north of Cottage Grove. A man passing through the drive-thru said he had found it and he hoped the worker would return it to its owner.
Police were able to obtain the license plate number of the car that dropped off the phone, thanks to surveillance tapes provided by Dairy Queen. Detectives contacted to the man and were told that he found the phone in a parking lot nearby the Dairy Queen after he saw someone throw it from a car.
Helenius was attending the Landmark Worldwide Forum at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Portland over the weekend. The conference day ended at 10 p.m. on Saturday night, but she did not call Saturday night and never returned home.
Demi lives at home with her parents in Rock Creek, and family members said she is “very good about calling and texting when she leaves somewhere.”
Demi's mother told KGW it's not like her daughter to disappear.
“She’s going to college, she writes music, she’s a half-marathoner, and she is full of life, and this is not her character,” said Melody Helenius. "We are very worried and we need people to look for her car and look for her."
Demi did not attend the conference Sunday and still had not contacted her family as of Monday afternoon.
Detectives spoke with a man at the Portland conference who did not check back in after dinner Saturday night. He is not considered a suspect.
Demi has several small tattoos on her hand, wrist and forearm, include bright red lips, a queen of hearts, and the words "believe" and "Jesus".
Detectives from the Washington County Sheriff's Office are working with Oregon State Police, Cottage Grove Police and the Lane County Sheriff's Office on the investigation. The hashtag #FindDemi is being used to help spread the word on social media.
Anyone who has seen Demi is asked to call police at 503-629-0111.