Page 14A
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
LOGMAN: Attempts to balance different
medications may have pushed her over the edge
Continued from 1A
appointment until June 15.
“She went back home
and spent the day there,”
Dan said. “When I got back
from work at 5, I found
dinner prepared and the
Slip ’N Slide and shoes and
shirts all over the yard.”
Vanessa and the boys,
though, had vanished.
Bethel Assembly of God
pastor Tim Van Cleave,
who lives nearby and is the
Logmans’ minister, told Dan
that he had seen Cam’ron,
11, Christopher, 10, and
5-year-old twins Craig and
Curtis in the yard playing
earlier in the afternoon. Dan
called Yellowhawk, but
got the clinic’s after-hours
service, and then called
the Pendleton Police
Department, which put out
a description of the family’s
white Windstar van. Dan,
along with dozens of family
and friends, looked for
Vanessa and exchanged a
Àurry of texts to no avail.
Later, he learned that
Vanessa had found herself
in the grip of another
delusion.
“In her mind, she had
gotten a message from her
mom to go to Indian Lake,”
Dan said. “She grabbed the
kids and headed up.”
Her mom, Valarie
Smith, who works nights at
Wildhorse Resort & Casino
and was asleep, hadn’t sent
a message, but Vanessa was
convinced. She headed to
the lake with no food, no
water, no camping gear and
an almost empty gas tank.
“She ended up spending
the night with the kids,”
Dan said. “She progressed
into a more full-on
delusional state which
kicked into full paranoia.
She thought she was being
chased and needed to get
away.”
Vanessa was out of
gas so Saturday morning
around 10 a.m., she and
the boys began walking
the 20 miles to Pilot Rock
despite temperatures around
90 degrees and having no
water. After walking about
two miles, she waved down
Bill Porter and his ex-wife,
Brenda Porter, who were
traveling in a silver Dodge
pickup on East Birch Creek
Road. Bill stopped and
agreed to give Vanessa
and the boys a ride. They
scrambled into the back
seat.
The next thing the good
Samaritans knew, according
to police reports, Vanessa
had pulled a knife from
her purse, grabbed Bill’s
shoulder and sliced into
his throat. The Hermiston
man stopped and he and
Brenda pulled Vanessa from
the truck. They wrestled
the knife from her hand.
A passerby helped subdue
the woman and secure
her hands behind her
back with a belt. Umatilla
County Sheriff’s deputies
and Oregon State Police
troopers arrived, arrested
Vanessa and booked her
into the Umatilla County
Jail on charges of attempted
murder, assault in the
second degree and two
counts of unlawful use of a
weapon.
Bill Porter’s wound
required 11 stitches. Brenda
Porter had minor injuries.
About 2 p.m., Dan’s
mother-in-law called him
to let him know she had
the boys. Not knowing any
of the details, he rushed to
them.
“I was informed by my
5-year-olds about what had
happened,” he said. “That’s
something I’ll never forget.”
———
Peter Davidson saw
plenty of bipolar disorder as
medical director of the Blue
Mountain Recovery Center,
a state mental hospital in
Pendleton that closed March
31, 2014, Davidson said
violence is not uncommon
among people with bipolar
disorder, though when
properly medicated, they are
more likely to be victims
than perpetrators.
“In my world, it’s
not unusual at all,” said
Davidson, now a consultant
to Greater Oregon Behav-
ioral Health Inc.
Delusional thinking
can have other fallout as
well. Bipolar individuals
have told him they were
God. Others have fallen to
“There’s so much love in our house.
We focus on that. You can dwell in
the negative, but there’s been so much
positive out of this bad situation. My
faith in God has been strengthened.”
— Dan Logman, Vanessa’s husband
their deaths while thinking
they could Ày. One woman
with bipolar disorder left
her baby on the side of
Interstate 5. Medication is a
critical and effective way of
leveling out mood, he said,
though people with bipolar
disorder have a dif¿cult
choice. They can avoid the
manic highs and lows or
get stuck in a even-keel, but
lackluster, existence.
“Life gets dull. They
miss the manic highs,” he
said. “All of the medications
are poisons in one form
or another. They stop
neurotransmitters from
cycling. All have side
effects that people hate.”
Looking back, Vanessa
and Dan suspect that
attempts to balance different
mood-stabilizing medi-
cations in recent months
might have pushed Vanessa
over the edge, but they will
probably never know for
sure. Lithium, another mood
stabilizer, is currently the
main drug in her arsenal.
“They try out different
things to see what will
work. What works for one
person might not work for
the next,” he said. “It’s a
tricky game.”
Vanessa saw her psychia-
trist from afar. Yellowhawk
has an agreement with the
Oregon Health & Science
University to provide
psychiatric care via video
feed. Vanessa had seen a
different psychiatrist in the
past year who had been
reevaluating her treatment.
Yellowhawk CEO Tim
Gilbert said patients with
serious psychiatric issues
are generally supported by
a tripod of caregivers — a
behavioral health counselor
and primary care doctor
(onsite) and a telepsychia-
trist at OHSU.
“That’s a system we
arrived at out of need and
for the most part it works,”
Gilbert said. “In Eastern
Oregon, we’ve got to be
creative to get that high
level of care. It comes with
caveats. It doesn’t work
one hundred percent of the
time.”
Vanessa’s June 3 attempt
to get an appointment might
have been one of those times
it didn’t work. She believes
her mental health crisis
might have been averted had
she been able to meet with
a counselor the day before
the attack. It’s a moot point
now, though, as she is on
trial for a serious crime.
In Dan’s mind, love will
conquer even this devas-
tating blow to his family.
“There’s so much love
in our house. We focus
on that,” he said. “You
can dwell in the negative,
but there’s been so much
positive out of this bad
situation. My faith in God
has been strengthened.”
Case in point, he said,
was Vanessa’s bail hearing.
Around 45 friends, family
and fellow members of
the Bethel Baptist Church
showed up en masse to
support Vanessa. Some
drove from as far as
Portland and the Tri-Cities.
“We had the courtroom
packed out,” said Van
Cleave, who testi¿ed to
Vanessa’s character. “There
was a lot of support for her.
It was amazing.”
The pastor said he was
Àoored when he originally
got wind of the attack.
“When I heard about it,
I was totally shocked,” he
said. “It was totally out of
character for her.”
Dan raised the $5,000
bail by the next day. Vanessa
was soon free.
“Now we can walk into
the courtroom together with
dignity, not by video with
her in an orange jumpsuit,”
Dan said. “We are able
to face this together as a
family.”
———
The Logmans think about
Bill Porter every day, and
are thankful he stopped to
pick up Vanessa and the
kids.
“We want to thank him
for what he did. I hope he
can see that his act saved our
family,” Dan said. “His act
of kindness brought this to
an end. We don’t know what
would have happened if he
hadn’t stopped and we’ll
never have to know.”
On such a hot day with
no water, the story could
have ended quite differently,
he said.
“We’re sorry he was
injured and grateful that he’s
OK,” Dan said. “I see him
as a hero because he saved
lives that day, truly.”
The Porters are with-
holding comment for now,
until the case makes its way
through court.
Since she got out of jail,
Vanessa said, she has spent
time in psychiatric care.
She has initiated a healthier
routine. She and Dan lift
weights and do cardio at
Club 24 in Pendleton. Dan
keeps four ledgers — one
each for medications,
exercise, sleep and diet.
“We go to the gym every
day at the same time,” she
said. “I take medications
every day at the same time.
Routine is important. Even
little things can throw me
off.”
They worry about how
their four sons will cope
with recent events, but are
staying positive. The boys
are in counseling and the
family is close-knit.
“We are probably the
most loving family I’ve
ever been around,” he said.
“We’re not shy on hugs.
Our kids hear ‘I love you’
probably 50 times a day.”
Pendleton attorney
Michael Breiling represents
Vanessa. Her next pre-trial
hearing is scheduled for
Sept. 12.
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
Saturday, August 13, 2016
Judge overturns conviction of
nephew in ‘Making a Murderer’
MADISON,
Wis.
(AP) — A judge on Friday
overturned the conviction
of a Wisconsin man found
guilty of helping his uncle
kill a woman in a case
pro¿led in the NetÀix series
“Making a Murderer,”
ruling that investigators
coerced a confession using
deceptive tactics.
U.S. Magistrate William
Duf¿n
in
Milwaukee
ordered Brendan Dassey
freed within 90 days unless
prosecutors decide to retry
him. The state Department
of Justice, which handled
the case, declined to
comment Friday. The state
could also appeal Duf¿n’s
ruling.
Dassey’s case burst into
the public’s consciousness
with the popularity of the
“Making a Murderer” series
that debuted in December.
The ¿lmmakers cast doubt
on the legal process used
to convict Dassey and his
uncle Steven Avery in the
death of Teresa Halbach,
and their work sparked
national interest and conjec-
ture. Authorities involved
in the case have called
the 10-hour series biased,
while the ¿lmmakers have
stood by their work.
Dassey confessed to
helping Avery carry out the
rape and killing of Halbach,
but his attorneys argued
that his constitutional rights
were violated throughout
the investigation. Dassey
didn’t testify at his uncle’s
trial and his confession
wasn’t
presented
as
evidence there. Both men
are serving life sentences.
Duf¿n said in his ruling
that investigators made
false promises to Dassey
by assuring him “he had
nothing to worry about.”
“These repeated false
promises, when consid-
ered in conjunction with
all relevant factors, most
especially Dassey’s age,
intellectual de¿cits, and
the absence of a supportive
adult, rendered Dassey’s
confession
involuntary
under the Fifth and Four-
teenth Amendments (of the
U.S. Constitution),” Duf¿n
wrote.
LEHNERT: Ability to relate to others made
a good ¿t for the community services of¿cer
Continued from 1A
resulted in bumping Lehnert
from a sergeant back to an
of¿cer.
Lehnert, 44, began his
law enforcement career
in his early 20s with the
sheriff’s of¿ce before joining
Pendleton police. He made
corporal in 2003. He also
was a member of the Oregon
National Guard, and in 2004
he was a platoon sergeant
in Iraq overseeing of 30
soldiers.
He returned home in
2006 and resumed his job
with Pendleton PD. But he
found he was in serious debt,
he said, and the experiences
of war stayed with him. He
also brought his military
attitude to work, which the
¿le shows drew complaints
from some of¿cers.
Still, Lehnert said, career
advancement was important,
and he rose to sergeant. Yet
his home life was crumbling
and he needed medication
to deal with the stress from
combat.
“I didn’t want anybody
to know I was taking
medication,” he said. “I was
embarrassed and ashamed,
so I quit taking them.”
Even so, the record
shows Lehnert remained a
solid criminal investigator.
Roberts said those skills,
along
with
Lenhert’s
ability to relate to others,
made him a good ¿t for the
community services of¿cer,
a liaison between the police
department and public that
demanded less on him and
his family life.
Lehnert said he made a
personal apology to Roberts
for failing him and the
department. Roberts said
Lehnert used the demotion
to establish the Apartment
Watch Program, which
involves dozens of property
managers and owners to
reduce crime.
Since then, Lehnert said,
he grew as an individual
and as a police of¿cer
and became a better dad.
Pendleton police detective
Howard Bowen in 2013
even nominated Lehnert for
of¿cer of the year. Roberts
boosted Lehnert to corporal
in 2014. And in 2015,
Lehnert took on the assign-
ment of policing nearby Pilot
Rock, which struggled with
even maintaining a police
department.
Police Sgt. Charles
Byram evaluated Lehnert
in July and noted during
the past couple of years he
demonstrated “signi¿cant
growth in con¿dence, matu-
rity and responsibility” but
still needs to work on “prior-
itization and management of
duties, responsibilities ... At
times he allows himself to
get over-extended trying to
please everyone.”
Roberts has endorsed
Lehnert for sheriff. He said
Lehnert carries an array of
leadership skills and he has
earned back his trust and the
trust of others in the depart-
ment.
“I
wouldn’t
have
endorsed him if I didn’t
believe he could handle this
opportunity,” Roberts said.
Lehnert began his career
in the sheriff’s of¿ce, he
said, and believes it can do
better under his leadership.
He said he is ready for the
onus of shouldering a law
enforcement agency that
encompasses patrols, a jail,
dispatching calls for service
and more.
But he might not have
acquired what it takes to do
the job, he said, if he had
stayed a sergeant.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0833.
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