List of homicides in Oregon

This is a list of homicides in Oregon. It includes notable homicides committed in the U.S. state of Oregon that have a Wikipedia article on the killing, the killer, or the victim.

The list is divided into three sub-lists as follows:

1. Multiple homicides. The state's largest multiple homicide was the 1887 slaughter of 34 Chinese gold miners at the Hells Canyon Massacre. Other notable multiple homicides include the 2015 Umpqua Community College shooting (ten killed in mass shooting on college campus), the Oregon Museum Tavern shooting (five killed in Ladies' Night shooting), and the 2022 Bend, Oregon shooting (three killed at a Safeway grocery store).

2. Serial killers. Serial killers active in Oregon include Keith Hunter Jesperson, Robert Wayne Danielson, and Sebastian Shaw.

3. Individual homicides.

Multiple homicides

Listed in chronological order

Incident	Location	Date	Deaths	Description	Sources
Hells Canyon Massacre	Chinese Massacre Cove	1887-05	34	Massacre of Chinese gold miners	[1]
Ardenwald axe murders	Ardenwald	1911-06-09	4	Married couple and two children bludgeoned with an axe	[2]
Lava Lake murders	Deschutes National Forest	1924-01	3	Triple murder of fur trappers, bodies deposited under surface ice of lake	[3]
Murders of Larry Peyton and Beverly Allan	Portland	1960-11	2	Young couple disappeared, bodies discovered in a ravine	[4]
Cowden family murders	Copper	1974-09-01	4	Married couple and two children disappeared from campground, bodies discovered months later	[5]
Oregon Museum Tavern shooting	Salem	1981-05-07	5	Mass shooting at tavern during Ladies' night event	[6] [7]
Harry Charles Moore	Salem	1992	2	Executed for double murder of two relatives	[5] [8]
Leathers Oil Company murders	Gresham	1994-01-17	3	Employees of gas station shot and left in storage room	[9]
Murders of Roxanne Ellis and Michelle Abdill	Medford	1995-12-04	2	Murder of lesbian couple	[10]
Thurston High School shooting	Springfield	1998-05-20/21	4	Teenager murdered his parents and shot multiple victims at school the next day	[11]
Christian Longo	Newport	2001–12	4	Familicide by Starbucks worker who killed his wife and three children	[9]
Clackamas Town Center shooting	Clackamas	2012-12-11	3	Mass shooting at a mall by 22-year-old man with AR-15	[12]
2015 Umpqua Community College shooting	Roseburg	2015-10-01	10	Mass shooting at college campus	[9] [13]
2017 Portland train attack	Portland	2017-05-26	3	Fatally stabbed two men after confronted for shouting racist and anti-Muslim slurs	[14]
2022 Bend, Oregon shooting	Bend	2022-08-28	3	Mass shooting at Safeway grocery store	[15]

Serial killers

Listed in chronological order

Incident	Location	Date	Deaths	Description	Sources
Earle Nelson	Multiple states	1926–1927	22–29	Serial killer known as "The Gorilla Man"	[16]
Leroy McGahuey	Mineral, Central Point	1957–61	2–3
Jerry Brudos	Oregon	1968–1969	4	Serial killer and necrophile, aka Shoe Fetish Slayer	[9] [17]
Douglas Franklin Wright	Oregon	1969–1991	7+	Serial killer
Robert Wayne Danielson	Multiple states	1970–1982	7+	Serial killer responsible for 11-month killing spree through western states
Thomas Eugene Creech	Oregon, California, Idaho	1974–81	3–43	Serial killer
Edward Delon Warren	Brookings	1976–1979	3	Serial killer
John Arthur Ackroyd	Oregon	1977–92	2–7+	Convicted for murder of Kaye Turner, suspected serial killer
Stanley Bernson	Oregon, Washington	1978–79	2–30	Serial killer and companion of Ted Bundy	[9]
William Perry Jackson	Oregon, Washington	1980	5	Serial killer
Randall Woodfield	Oregon, California	1980–1981	1–44	Serial killer known as the "I-5 Killer"	[9]
William Scott Smith	Salem	1981–84	4+	Serial killer	[9]
Darren Dee O'Neall	Multiple	1982–1987	1–6+	Suspected serial killer convicted of kidnapping/rape of 14-year-old girl in Portland
Dayton Leroy Rogers	Molalla	1983–87	7–8+	Serial killer, aka The Molalla Forest Killer	[9]
Keith Hunter Jesperson	Multiple states	1990–1995	8–185	Canadian serial killer	[18]
Sebastian Shaw	Multiple	1991–92	3–13	Vietnam-born serial killer and rapist
Cesar Barone	Portland area	1991–1993	4+	Serial killer	[19]
Todd Alan Reed	Portland	1999	3–5	Serial killer and sex offender raped and strangled homeless women	[9]
Murders of Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis	Oregon City	2002	2	Victims of serial killer Ward Weaver III	[9]
Scott William Cox	Multiple		2–20+	Serial killer	[9]
Andrew David Edwards	Multiple states	1987–1992	4	Serial killer
Homer Jackson	Oregon	1983–1993	4+	Serial killer
Richard Laurence Marquette	Oregon	1961–1975	3	Serial killer

Single homicides

Listed by date

Incident	Location	Date	Description	Sources
George LeBreton	Oregon	1844-03-04	Official recorder of provisional Oregon government by Native American
Peter French	Frenchglen	1897-12-26	Cattle king of Oregon shot in head by one of the homesteaders French sought to eject
Killing of Alonzo Tucker	Coos Bay	1902-09-18	African-American boxer and gym owner accused of raping white woman and lynched by a mob
Harry Minto	Albany	1915-09-27	Superintenent of Oregon state Penitentiary killed by escaped inmate
John K. Giles	Oregon		Sentenced to life in prison but escaped
Robert Folkes	Train near Tangent	1943-01-23	Black man convicted and executed for the murder of a white woman on a train, historical works question his guilt
Oak Grove Jane Doe	Oak Grove	1946	Unidentified murder victim found dismembered in Willamette River
Omar August Pinson	Hood River	1947-04-15	Escaped prisoner shot and fatally wounded an Oregon State Police officer
Murder of Thelma Taylor	Portland	1949-08-06	Teenager abducted and murdered
Jeannace June Freeman		1961	Murdered two children of her lover, first woman sentenced to death in Oregon	[9]
Murder of Martha Morrison	Portland	1974-09	17-year-old girl disappeared from Portland, remains discovered 2015
Jim Bradley	Portland	1982-02-20	Pro basketball player shot to death in an alley in Portland
Diane Downs	Springfield	1983-05-19	Sociopath mother shot her three children, killing one, blamed carjacker	[9]
Christopher Brathwaite	Eugene	1984-11-12	Sprinter from Trinidad shot by assailant with sniper rifle
Cheryl Keeton		1986-09-21	Lawyer murdered by husband during divorce, found inside her van on Sunset Highway
Murder of Mulugeta Seraw	Portland	1988-11-13	Ethiopian student beaten to death by white supremacists	[9]
Michael Francke	Salem	1989-01	Director or Oregon corrections department and murder victim, subject of film Without Evidence
Murder of Yolanda Panek	Portland	1995-07-13	Woman disappeared from motel with mattress soaked in blood
Marion Eugene Carl	Roseburg	1998-06-28	WWII fighter ace and record-setting test pilot shot and killed at his home by burglar
Murder of Brooke Wilberger	Corvallis	2004-05-25	LDS college student from BYU murdered while visiting Oregon
Susan Monica	Wimer	2012, 2013	Murdered two handymen who worked at her farm
Reynolds High School shooting	Troutdale	2014-06-10	School shooting by 15-year-old shooter
Murder of Kaylee Sawyer	Bend	2016-07-24	COCC student murdered by a campus security guard
Murder of Larnell Bruce	Gresham	2016-08-10	Black 19-year-old run over by a Jeep driven by a member of the European Kindred gang
Murder of Daniel Brophy	Portland	2018-06-02	Chef and instructor murdered by wife at Oregon Culinary Institute

References

1. "Massacre at Hells Canyon". PBS. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
2. JD Chandler (2013). Murder & Mayhem in Portland Oregon. The History Press.
3. Jim Yuskavitch (2017). Oregon Myths and Legends: The True Stories Behind History's Mysteries. TwoDot. p. 187. ISBN   9781493028269.
4. "Earl Son cracked the toughest Portland murder cases of his era, but his obsession came at a cost". The Oregonian. February 25, 2022.
5. Marques Vickers (2021). Murder in Oregon: Notorious Crime Sites. Marquis Publishing. p. 108.
6. "Four Slain and 20 Wounded in Bar as Oregon Man Shoots Into Crowd". The New York Times. May 9, 1981.
7. "Salem history: Oregon Museum Tavern shooting left". Statesman Journal. May 7, 2021.
8. "Convicted Killer Seeks Death Penalty Prisoner Berates Those Trying To Block His Execution". The Spokesman-Review. December 20, 1996.
9. Kale Williams (September 13, 2016). "The notorious northwest: 39 crimes that rocked the region". The Oregonian.
10. "'Personification of evil' dies on Oregon death row". KTVL. October 26, 2018.
11. Brian Bull (May 21, 2023). "25 years later, memories of Oregon's Thurston school shooting still haunt community". Oregon Public Broadcasting.
12. Lynne Terry (December 18, 2012). "Clackamas Town Center shooting: Man says he had shooter in his sights, but chose safety over firing". The Oregonian.
13. "Oregon Gunman Smiled, Then Fired, Student Says". The New York Times. October 9, 2015.
14. Phil Helsel (June 24, 2020). "Oregon man gets life without parole for killing 2 on Portland train after hate-filled tirade". NBC News.
15. "New details emerge in Bend Safeway shooting; police release video footage, 398 pages of documents". The Oregonian. December 6, 2022.
16. "The Strangler" (PDF). Winnipeg Police Museum. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
17. "A Serial Killer in Oregon: The Grisly Tale of Jerry Brudos "Shoe Fetish Slayer"". That Oregon Life. October 11, 2022.
18. Jack Smith. The Happy Face Murderer: The Life of Serial Killer Keith Hunter Jesperson.
19. "Oregon death row inmate dies, taking secrets with him". The Oregonian. December 24, 2009.