ALBANY — The last time Charlene Buckley saw her son alive was the morning of May 20.

She told him to have a good day and that she loved him, and then left the house for work.

Shane Buckley, 31, went to lunch that day with his mother's longtime boyfriend before meeting up with Jesse Reesman.

Reesman, 22, of Albany was found shot to death four days later near Alsea.

A second body, believed to be Buckley, was found Wednesday afternoon in the same area.

Police told Charlene Buckley on Thursday morning they had found her son, and he was dead.

They told her, "‘He was in a beautiful place.' And that meant the world to me," she told the Democrat-Herald on Thursday afternoon.

Shane Buckley was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 24. He never married, didn't have children and had gotten into trouble with the law.

But in recent months, he had been the happiest he ever was, Charlene Buckley said.

Since his diagnosis, Buckley lived in Jefferson with his mother, her boyfriend, David Miller, and his youngest brother, Charlie Miller, 10.

Buckley had spent some time living in Portland with his father, who died in January.

"He's in heaven with his dad," Charlene Buckley said.

Standing in the backyard of their home at the edge of town, Charlene Buckley referred to the reports and rumors of illegal drug activity surrounding the investigation and said, "That's not Shane's life. Shane's life was here."

She said Reesman and Buckley were acquaintances who knew each other through friends.

Buckley had occasionally purchased marijuana from Reesman, she said. The drug helped calm him.

Charlene Buckley, who is employed by Hart's Nursery, has dealt with substance abuse in her own life, but has been clean for ten and a half years, she said.

Buckley's outing with Reesman on May 20 was the first time he had been out and away from his family in about four months, his family said.

He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, they added.

Buckley's family reported him missing to Albany police May 22, and since then had been helping with the search in Alsea and elsewhere.

Buckley's older brother, George Buckley, had been talking to people on the street and in drug houses trying to learn anything he could about the case, Charlene Buckley said.

The fourth brother in the family, 21-year-old David Miller Jr., and his father helped with the search in Alsea.

Charlene Buckley doesn't know why Reesman, Buckley and Mitch Miller went to Alsea that day, but it had to be about more than marijuana, she said.

Through all the hard times in Buckley's life, he was loved by his family, his mother said.

The family sometimes called him "birdman" because he was always feeding the quails at their property.

"It was a peaceful place for him," Charlene Buckley said.

Buckley grew up with his brother George, who was only a couple years older and had helped take care of him, she said.

But in later years, it was his youngest brother he lived with.

"He liked playing games with me," Charlie Buckley said.

Together the two would play Monopoly, video football games and watch movies.

"Shane was awesome," David Miller Jr. said. "You're never going to meet a guy like that."

Charlene Buckley said she told police, "What I want to give you from Shane is that there is good in people. We have succeeded.

"People can change and turn their lives around."

Reporter Carrie Peterson covers public safety and courts for the Albany Democrat-Herald.