Tips sought in 1996 Polk Co. ‘cold case’ killing

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office and the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office requested the public’s help Thursday in hopes of identifying the skeletal remains of a woman found in the hills overlooking the Mill Creek area of rural Polk County on September 1, 1996.

The Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office said it has determined that the bones are of a Caucasian female, middle age or older. The following are likely descriptors of the female:

Caucasian female, 45 years of age or older at the time of her disappearance, between 5’0 and 5’6″ in height, with a slight build and possible curvature of the spine;

Most likely having a complete upper denture;

Black and gray hair;

The skull shows a crescent shaped surgical incision in the forehead area and has been determined to be a sinus related surgery that appeared to have occurred years before her death. This procedure may or may not have left a visible scar.

The body may have been in the Mill Creek area for as little as a few months up to a year, making the time of disappearance from the fall of 1995 to the summer of 1996.

After extensive searching of missing persons reports from 1995 and 1996 in Polk County and throughout Oregon brought little in the way of leads to the decedent’s identity, investigators said it’s possible the woman may have been from another state.

Due to the suspicious circumstances found at the scene, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office investigated the incident as a homicide.

Earlier this year, the case was turned over to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Team, which has worked with OHSU and the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office to develop medical information regarding the surgical scar as well as an updated profile sketch, completed by the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.

More details can be found on www.Namus.gov under the Unidentified Persons Database, Case #9457, where additional sketches, photos, and case information can be found.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office requests that anyone who may have information regarding this incident or any missing person that fits the above description and estimated time of disappearance, please contact their tip line at 503-623-1878 or contact Det. Sgt. Mark Garton or Det. John Williams at 503-623-9251 .