Keizertimes., July 26, 2019, Image 1

SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 40, NO. 43
SECTION A
JULY 26, 2019
$1.00
Volcanoes
Home Run Star
PAGE A14
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
Demolition at McNary High School began on Tuesday, July 23, as construction workers began to tear
down the northeast side of the structure by the baseball fi eld.
KPD seeks for new
leads in city’s only
unsolved murder
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The Keizer Police Depart-
ment is renewing its call for
help in bringing a killer to
justice.
Christine “Chrissy” Speten’s
body was found inside her
locked apartment on Valentine’s
Day 2011. Speten’s mother,
Sharon, and a friend made
the discovery and Speten had
already been dead for several
days. Speten was 43 at the time
of her death and she left behind
four children.
Keizertimes featured Speten’s
murder in 2018. At the time,
new leads in the case had large-
ly dried up even though KPD
detectives considered it a “dor-
mant” case, not a “cold” one.
Det. Tim Lathrop, who
responded
to
Speten’s
apartment when her body
was discovered, said the case
was never a “whodunit,” it’s a
matter of having the evidence
to pursue charges against those
who committed the crime.
Aidan Fairbairn (right)
works on the motherboard
of a Wii gaming system
while Dylan Juran gives
instruction.
Willamette
Mission
recovery
PAGE A3
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
Christine Speten
“There are people who we
think know what happened
and those people don’t want
to be truthful or simply
don’t want to come forward
with that information,” said
Lathrop in 2018. “At the
very least we believe there
are people who know what
happened and, if we had that,
it could lead to making an
arrest.”
Please see LEADS, Page A5
Camp lets teens explore the
guts of gaming systems
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
Ever since it came to fruition three years
ago, the volunteers at Satellite Gaming — a
nonprofi t organization in connection with
Lakepoint Community Church — have
been focused creating a positive community
for kids that is centered around video games.
Dylan Juran, who is the education director
for Satellite Gaming, usually holds weekly
gaming nights or online tournament events
for kids to participate in during the summer.
However, Juran wanted to shake things up
a little bit this summer.
“Every summer, we have been trying to
do different things when students are not in
school,” Juran said. “This year, we wanted to
do something educational.”
Please see GAMING, Page A6
Keizer Fire gets special delivery: a box of SCORPIONS
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
On Wednesday, July 17,
the on-duty personnel at
Keizer Fire District (KFD)
were greeted with a unique
situation when a concerned
citizen brought four Pacifi c
Northwest scorpions to the
station.
The scorpions were found
by a concerned citizen, trapped
in a Red Vines Licorice
container inside one of the
bathrooms at Keizer Rapids
Park. Since the container was
close to the play structure, the
citizen brought the scorpions
to KFD for safety reasons.
From there, it was up to
Chief Jeff Cowan on how to
proceed further.
“We knew we needed to
contact Public Safety to fi gure
out what the next steps were,”
Cowan said. “We didn't want
to cut them lose, but we also
Going up
PAGE A6
Barbecue
winners
PAGE A8
Photo submitted by Keizer Fire District
Please see SCORPS, Page A5
Scorpions found in Keizer Rapids Park were brought to Keizer Fire District on Wednesday, July 17.
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