Unsolved Crimes
Homicide of Shalamar Edmond
May 16, 2011
STATUS: OPENOn May 16, 2011, at 12:03 a.m., North Precinct officers responded to the area of North Trenton Street and Newman Avenue on the report of gunfire in the area.
Officers arrived in the area and found the victim, 18-year-old Shalamar Altae Edmond, deceased at the scene. The Oregon State Medical Examiner determined he died of gunshot wounds.
Detectives learned that Edmond was walking home from his girlfriend's house when he was killed. Detectives do not have any suspect information.
KATU 2 News Story
Homicide of Donald Polk
October 21, 2010
STATUS: OPENOn Thursday October 21, 2010, at approximately 8:00 a.m., Portland Police officers responded to a bus shelter at Southwest 1st and Sheridan to assist medical personnel with a deceased male. Officers arrived and found 50-year-old Donald Ray Polk dead of apparent stab wounds. Homicide detectives were called to the scene to begin an investigation into Polk's death.
"Pokey", as he was known to his friends, is believed to have been living on the streets at the time of his death.
There is no suspect information in this case.
Homicide of David Jenkins
June 11, 2010
STATUS: OPENThe Portland Police Bureau, in cooperation with Crime Stoppers of Oregon, is asking for the public's help to solve a 2010 homicide that occurred in Southeast Portland.
On June 11, 2010, at approximately 12:52 a.m., Portland Police Bureau officers responded to the report of a single vehicle crash at 89th Avenue and East Burnside Street. Officers and medical personnel arrived and located the vehicle, which was resting in the yard of a residence after it hit a power pole.
The driver of the vehicle, 32-year-old David Cosmo Jenkins, was suffering life-threatening injuries and was transported by ambulance to a Portland hospital where he later died of his injuries. Officers learned that Jenkins had been shot just prior to crashing the vehicle.
The Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy and determined that Jenkins died from a gunshot wound.
Homicide detectives learned that Jenkins was driving the vehicle westbound on Burnside near 89th Avenue when he was shot by an unknown assailant.
KOIN 6 News Story
Homicide of Barbara Tooley
October 01, 2009
STATUS: OPENIn in the early evening hours of Thursday, October 1, 2009, in Glendale, Oregon, an unknown person entered a home at 6134 Azalea Glen Road and shot the resident, 88-year-old Helen Berleta Long, and her daughter, 59-year-old Barbara Lea Tooley of Damascus, Oregon.
Tooley died at the scene. Long suffered serious injuries requiring extensive medical treatment. Long passed away in March 2013 at the age of 91.
Detectives do not have any leads or known reason why Tooley and Long may have been the target of violence.
The suspect is described to be an adult male of average height, thin build, wearing a dark (possibly fake) beard. Clothing has been described as dark gray or black pants, light blue or gray hooded sweatshirt with pockets in the front. He was also seen wearing a small dark colored backpack.
This individual has been associated with a small black, late-1990s to early-2000s SUV, similar in style to a Toyota 4Runner. The vehicle has also been described as a small black pickup with a canopy. The vehicle has a black bumper, rear window visor and tinted windows.
A suspect sketch as well as stock vehicle images have been released to aid in this investigation.
Fox 12 News Story
Homicide of Jeanine Toth
September 08, 2009
STATUS: OPENOfficers arrived at the apartment and found Jeanine’s body inside. Homicide detectives responded and immediately began an investigation into Jeanine’s death. The Oregon State Medical Examiner determined that Jeanine died of multiple stab wounds.
At this point in the investigation, Homicide detectives do not have any information on who may have been involved in Jeanine’s death but do not believe her death is related to any other cases.
Homicide of Alejandro Castrejon-Tovar
May 07, 2007
STATUS: OPENThe Washington County Sheriff’s Office, in partnership with Crime Stoppers of Oregon, is asking for the public's help to solve the 2007 disappearance and homicide of a 15-year-old boy.
On May 7, 2007, 15-year-old Alejandro “Alex” Castrejon-Tovar was reported missing to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. Alex, who also went by the nickname “Smiley,” was reportedly last seen boarding a bus in June 2007 on Southwest Farmington Road in Beaverton.
On November 18, 2008, Alex’s body was found in an area of thick brush near Southwest Shelton Street and 160th Avenue in Aloha.
The Oregon State Medical Examiner determined Alex was the victim of a homicide.
According to investigators, Alex was associating with street gang members around the time of his disappearance, although it is not known if his association played a role in his death.
Homicide of Donald Brown
February 04, 2007
STATUS: OPENOn February 4, 2007, 39-year-old Donald Brown was found deceased in his Vancouver, Washington home. His death was the result of homicidal violence.
Homicide of Jacqueline Marcell
October 03, 2004
STATUS: OPENOn October 3, 2004, at 12:45 a.m., Portland Police North Precinct officers responded to the report of shots fired in the area of North Michigan Street and North Skidmore Street. Upon arrival, Officers found the victim, 19-year-old Jacquelene Shelavria Marcell, sitting in the driver’s seat of a car with an apparent gunshot wound. Ms. Marcell was still breathing and was transported to a local hospital, where she later died from her injuries.
Witnesses told police they saw four Black males running north away from the scene not long after hearing the gunshots. They described the males as young, in their teens, wearing dark clothing and hooded sweatshirts. One of the males was wearing what appeared to be an orange shirt. The witnesses reported seeing the males return to the area of the scene with a flashlight and appeared to be looking for something on the ground.
Any information about this case may be submitted to Crime Stoppers of Oregon.
Fox 12 Cold Case Files - Jacqueline Marcel Homicide
Homicide of Sandy Morden
February 24, 1980
STATUS: OPENInvestigating Agency: Clark County Sheriff's Office
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public's assistance regarding an unsolved homicide case from 1980. The Sheriff’s Cold Case Unit is seeking background information on the following persons who resided in the Portland-Vancouver area between 1970 and 1980:
Sandra Renee (“Sandy”) Morden, born in 1962 and who was a juvenile in the 1970s;
Andrew Bain (“Andy”) Morden, Sandy’s father, who was born in 1930 and who would have been in his forties in the 1970s; and
Kathryn Irene (“Irene”) Morden, Sandy’s mother, who was born in 1938, whose maiden name was Long, and who would have been in her thirties during the 1970s.
The Mordens moved to Portland from the San Francisco Bay area. Andy Morden, who was a Marine Corps veteran of the Korean War era, worked in the maritime trades on tugboats providing service to pulp, paper and logging interests on the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. Andy and Irene were divorced in the early 1970s, with Andy assuming custody of Sandy. Following the divorce, Irene lived separately at various locations in Portland and in the Bay area. Andy and Sandy lived in Portland and Vancouver. Sandy attended Binnesmead Middle School (now Harrison Park Middle School) on S.E. 87th Avenue in Portland in 1974 and 1975. She attended Gaiser Middle School on N.E. 99th Street in Vancouver in 1975 and 1976. She attended Wilson High School on S.W. Vermont Street in Portland in 1976 and 1977. Irene Morden passed away in San Francisco in 1988. Andy Morden retired to Ilwaco, Washington, where he died in 1999. Sandy’s whereabouts between May 1977 and February 1980 have yet to be determined.
On February 24, 1980, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office investigated the discovery of human skeletal remains located along Fly Creek near Amboy, Washington, in rural Clark County. The victim, believed to be female and in her mid to late teens, was the victim of a homicide. Over the years, three facial reconstructions and multiple media releases were unsuccessful in identifying the remains, often referred to as Fly Creek Jane Doe. However, as a result of DNA and genealogy investigations, Sheriff’s detectives have determined that the recovered remains are those of Sandy Morden.
In 2019, Clark County detectives sought the services of Parabon NanoLabs, a DNA technology company in Virginia, for assistance in attempting to identify the Fly Creek Jane Doe. The first step in the identification process was the company’s Snapshot ™ DNA Phenotyping Service. Phenotyping is the process of predicting physical appearance and ancestry from unidentified DNA evidence. Using DNA evidence from this investigation, Snapshot produced trait predictions for the associated person of interest (POI). Individual predictions were made for the subject’s ancestry, eye color, hair color, skin color, freckling, and face shape. By combining these attributes of appearance, a Snapshot composite was produced depicting what the POI may have looked like at the time of her death.
After the phenotyping was completed, the newest Snapshot service offering genetic genealogy was applied as the second step of Parabon’s identification process. Genetic genealogy is advanced DNA testing in combination with innovative genetic analysis, sophisticated identification techniques and traditional genealogical methods to establish the relationship between an individual and his/her ancestors. For forensic investigations, genetic genealogy is used to generate highly informative leads as to the possible identity of an unknown victim or offender.
In its investigation, Parabon submitted a genetic data profile created from the unknown crime scene DNA sample to a public genetic genealogy database** for comparison in hope of finding individuals who share significant amounts of DNA with the unknown subject. These genetic links serve as clues to inform traditional genealogy research. Using online genealogy databases, newspaper archives, public family trees, obituaries, and other public records, family trees of the DNA links are constructed to reach back to the set of possible common ancestors. Descendant research is then employed to enumerate the possible identities of the unknown subject.
**[ Please note that ONLY publicly available databases that allow law enforcement cases to be uploaded were used. At NO TIME were the private commercial DNA service databases, such as 23andMe or AncestryDNA, used.]
Following the combined process of phenotyping and genetic genealogy, Clark County detectives contacted probable family members identified by Parabon. One family member advised detectives that Sandra had been missing since the 1970s and provided a name, family history, photographs and a family DNA reference sample which confirmed the relationship between the Fly Creek Jane Doe and the Morden family.
KOIN 6 News Story
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