Team Created to Investigate Deaths of Men
by Phil Manzano
A multi-agency police team has been established to investigate five homicides discovered in Marion and Clackamas counties during the past 2 ½ years, it was disclosed Wednesday. However, following a Wednesday meeting between representatives of the Oregon State Police and Marion and Clackamas County sheriff’s departments, participants declined public comment on the nature or status of their investigation. “We’re just following up leads and working on it,” said one official. Three of the cases involve victims whose bodies were found in southern Clackamas and northern Marion counties last November and December. The other two involve victims whose bodies were found in mid-July of 1980 close to Interstate 5 south of Salem and south of Woodburn.
All the victims were white males. All has been stripped of identification. At least four and perhaps all five had been strangled or asphyxiated. At least four are believed to have been hitchhikers. Authorities have acknowledged the similarities, but no definite links. This much they have disclosed about the three recent deaths:
On November 24, a passing motorist discovered the body of Brian Harold Witcher, 26, of Portland, lying along the Portland-Hubbard Road near Aurora. Witcher was clothed in a green and white sweater and blue jeans, officials said. Authorities were unable to establish an exact cause of death. An autopsy revealed high alcohol and drug levels, but apparently not high enough to be lethal.
On December 9, a passing motorist spotted another body lying alongside Airport Road, also near Aurora. The victim subsequently was identified as Lance T. Taggs, 19, of Tigard. An autopsy showed he died of “homicidal asphyxiation,” a term to indicate deliberate suffocation by unspecified means. Taggs had been drinking and had a .07 blood alcohol content, the autopsy showed. The legal limit to prove intoxication is .10. Taggs was last seen on 1-5 in the Sherwood area attempting the hitchhike to California. He was wearing a T-shirt and brown corduroy pants when he was found.
On December 18, a person picking up bottles and cans near Boones Ferry and Mineral Springs roads came upon the nude body of Anthony J. Silveria, 29, of Eagle Point. An autopsy revealed that he had been strangled. It also showed a .20 blood alcohol level twice the legal limit to prove intoxication. The bodies of Taggs and Witcher were found within a half mile of each other and that of Silveria was found about five miles to the south. All three were alongside rural, though well-traveled roads. Investigators had to rely on fingerprints for identification in each case. In the two 1980 cases, investigators have been unable to positively identify the victims. However, they do confirm this much:
On July 17 of that year, the nude body of a young man in his early 20’s was found on the northbound on-ramp at Talbot Road, 10 miles south of Salem. The victim’s hands and feet were bound, and an autopsy revealed the young man had been strangled. A day later the clothed body of a man believed to be 35-40 years old was found a mile south of Woodburn alongside Interstate 5. Investigators believe the victim had been hitchhiking earlier that morning near the 1-5 and Market Street interchange in Salem. The victim was not bound, but an autopsy showed he had been strangled either with a rope or cord.
