Clackamas County, OR – Nearly 80 years after her death, investigators have exhumed the remains of a woman known only as “Oak Grove Jane Doe” in hopes of identifying Oregon’s oldest unidentified homicide victim. The exhumation took place at Mountain View Cemetery in Oregon City on Monday.
According to the Oregon State Police, the woman’s body was first discovered in April 1946 inside a burlap sack in the Willamette River south of Portland. Additional remains were later recovered that year near Willamette Falls, the McLoughlin Bridge, and again at the original site. At the time, investigators determined the victim was a white woman between 30 and 50 years old who died of blunt-force trauma to the head before her body was dismembered.
Critical evidence, including the remains themselves, went missing from law enforcement custody in the 1950s, stalling the case for decades. The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office reviewed the case in 2008 but made little progress due to limited evidence.
Recently, the Oregon State Police Medical Examiner’s Office Human Identification Program learned the unidentified remains were interred at Mountain View Cemetery. The remains will now undergo advanced forensic testing in hopes that DNA analysis can provide a name and connect the victim to family members.
“This case was presumed impossible to resolve, and now, after nearly 80 years, we are hopeful we can restore this victim’s name and return her identity to history,” said State Forensic Anthropologist Hailey Collord-Stadler.
The case, long known to residents as the “Oak Grove Jane Doe,” remains one of Oregon’s most haunting unsolved murders.
This article was produced by a journalist and may include AI-assisted input. All content is reviewed for accuracy and fairness.
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