NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Saturday, October 30, 2021
‘I am certain she is my mother’
Woman believes
Finley Creek Jane
Doe is her mom,
missing since 1976
grave, which was near Finley
Creek.
She has since become
known as the Finley Creek
Jane Doe. Timms said
the mystery involving the
woman’s identify is solved in
her mind.
“I am certain she is my
mother,” she said.
Re-creating the face of
what Timms believes is that
of her mother took some
creativity on Redgrave’s part.
Redgrave had no actual skull
to work with, just the digi-
tal copies of the photos the
Oregon State medical exam-
iner took of the remains after
hunters found her.
Timms is sure of Finley
Creek Jane Doe’s identity not
only because of the forensic
image but also the red pants
and white blouse a medical
examiner’s report photo shows
she was wearing.
“That was exactly what my
mom had on the last time I saw
her,” Timms said.
A Sept. 8, 1976, story in the
Lewiston-Morning Tribune
also said that Otto was wear-
ing red pants and a white
blouse before she disappeared
from Lewiston.
Other similarities include
the light brown or blond hair
the article described, the
same color Timms’ mom
had. Size is another common
characteristic. Finley Creek
Jane Doe’s estimated height
was 5 feet, 2 inches to 5 feet,
4 inches, the same height as
By DICK MASON
The Observer
WALLA WALLA —
Suzanne Timms was look-
ing at a Facebook page that
lists missing persons when
she thought she saw someone
familiar — herself.
“I said, ‘Why am I there?
I’m not a missing person,’” the
Walla Walla woman said.
A moment later Timms
became convinced that the
picture, which she first saw
in July, was not of herself but
of her mother, Patty Otto,
who has been missing since
Sept. 1, 1976. What Timms
saw was not a photograph
but an image created in May
by a forensic artist in Massa-
chusetts, Anthony Redgrave,
the operator of Redgrave
Research Forensic Services.
Redgrave was assisting a
local group trying to identify
a woman found in a shallow
grave 10 miles northwest of
Elgin in August 1978.
The group is led by
Melinda Jederberg of La
Grande.
Timms’ mother, a Lewis-
ton, Idaho, resident whom
Suzanne Timms last saw
when she was 3 years old,
may have been the person
discovered in that shallow
Timms’ mother.
Timms now wants to get
DNA to verify that Finley
Creek Jane Doe is her mother,
which might prove challeng-
ing — Timms said Finley
Creek Jane Doe was cremated
in 1990 because her case had
been closed by the state.
Still, Timms is not giving
up hope. She knows precisely
where Finley Creek Jane Doe
was found because her father-
in-law, then a child, was with
the two hunters, including his
father, when they found her in
1978. He has taken Timms to
the precise site and they have
searched the area for human
bone fragments, but none have
Ben Lonergan, East Oregonian
been found.
Suzanne Timms poses for a portrait Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021, at her home in Walla Walla along-
She hopes to return later side a missing person poster of her mother, Patricia Ott, and a collection of documents per-
with dogs trained to pick up taining to her disappearance.
the scent of human bones.
Timms also hopes to be aided miscellaneous. She said that ton, Idaho, police officer.
by someone trained in the a Canadian company will be Saleen helped lead the effort
science of scatter analysis attempting to get DNA from to find Timms’ mother after
she was reported missing on
who might be able to deter- the cremains in the box.
If the ashes are determined Sept. 1, 1976.
mine how the bones were
to be those of her mother, it
“He has been amazing,”
spread out.
Another avenue that may would be an amazing irony Timms said.
Saleen said that he put
be pursued involves attempt- for Timms, a registered nurse
ing to get what are believed to who has lived in Walla Walla more hours on the Patty Otto
case than any other during his
be the ashes of Finley Creek since 1999.
“I have been searching for career.
Jane Doe.
“I never had a case that
It is not known for certain my mom for years and I may
where the ashes of Finley have been next to her all of this had so many leads that led
Creek Jane Doe are because time,” she said. ”She may have nowhere,” he said.
Ben Lonergan, East Oregonian
The retired law enforce-
they were never returned to been sitting right here waiting
ment officer wants to help A missing person poster for
La Grande after being sent to for me to pick her up.”
Those who are assisting solve the case for the sake of Patricia Otto sits on the cof-
Walla Walla to be cremated,
fee table of her daughter,
Timms said. However, Timms in her effort to prove Timms.
“The most important thing Suzanne Timmes, on Tues-
Timms believes her ashes that Finley Creek Jane Doe
may be those at a mortuary in is indeed her mother include for me is to get resolution for day, Oct. 26, 2021, at Timms’
home in Walla Walla.
Walla Walla in a box marked Tom Saleen, a retired Lewis- Suzanne,” Saleen said.
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
SUNDAY
| Go to AccuWeather.com
MONDAY
Partly sunny
Chilly with
abundant sunshine
50° 34°
48° 31°
TUESDAY
Rain and drizzle in
the p.m.
WEDNESDAY
Sun through high
clouds
Cloudy
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
51° 40°
53° 40°
53° 37°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
56° 34°
55° 33°
54° 41°
56° 41°
57° 36°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
56/43
51/30
54/31
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
51/34
Lewiston
57/35
58/37
Astoria
60/42
Pullman
Yakima 54/35
54/30
55/34
Portland
Hermiston
59/44
The Dalles 56/34
Salem
Corvallis
59/39
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
53/32
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
59/42
46/35
59/34
Ontario
66/41
Caldwell
Burns
61°
55°
59°
36°
73° (2020) 11° (1971)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
61/39
0.33"
1.25"
0.74"
3.92"
2.29"
6.41"
WINDS (in mph)
63/41
61/31
0.19"
1.03"
1.03"
6.03"
9.83"
10.24"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 50/28
61/39
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
50/34
58/36
68°
53°
58°
37°
74° (2020) 15° (2019)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
54/30
Aberdeen
49/30
50/31
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
54/39
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
61/49
Sun.
NNE 6-12
NNW 4-8
NNE 4-8
WSW 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
58/35
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
New
Region returning to pre-pandemic job numbers
7:32 a.m.
5:45 p.m.
12:54 a.m.
3:48 p.m.
First
Full
By ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
LA GRANDE — Eastern
Oregon is back on track to
recovering jobs lost due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, accord-
ing to state economists.
Regional economists
Christopher Rich and Dallas
Fridley at the Oregon Employ-
ment Department reported
unemployment rates have
dipped to the lowest level
since the pandemic began in
the spring of 2020.
Union and Wallowa coun-
ties saw a 1.5% and 1.6%
decrease in unemployment
from September 2020 to
September 2021, respec-
tively, closing out with 5.3%
and 5.4% total unemployment
rates. Baker County saw a
2.2% drop during the same
period, from 7.1% to 4.9%, the
largest drop of the Northeast-
ern Oregon counties. Grant
County saw a 1.5% decrease,
down to 6.6%.
Morrow County recorded
one of the lowest year-end
decreases with just 0.9%,
down to a 4.4% unemploy-
ment rate since Septem-
ber 2021. Morrow County’s
seasonally adjusted unem-
ployment rate ranked sixth
out of 36 Oregon counties, tied
IN BRIEF
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 95° in San Bernardino, Calif. Low 11° in Angel Fire, N.M.
Nov 4
Nov 11
Nov 19
Nov 27
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
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showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
ice
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60s
cold front
E AST O REGONIAN
— Founded Oct. 16, 1875 —
70s
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The Oregon Health Authority said getting
more people vaccinated is the state’s best way
out of this pandemic.
Officers search ranch suspected
of illegal horse racing operation
BURBANK — An investigation lasting
more than two years on illegal horse racing
in rural Walla Walla County resulted in the
search of a suspected illegal operation early
Tuesday, Oct. 26.
Detectives and deputies from the Walla
Walla County Sheriff’s Office, special
agents with the Washington State Gambling
Commission, U.S. Department of Agriculture
agents and Walla Walla Police Department
officers served a search warrant on the site this
week, according to a press release.
— Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
and Oregon Public Broadcasting
CORRECTIONS: The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and sincerely
regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call 541-966-0818.
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In the App Store:
80s
80% of Oregonians 18 and
older have received at least
one dose of COVID-19 shot
SALEM — State health officials said
Thursday, Oct. 28, that 80% of Oregonians
who are 18 or older have now had at least one
dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
They said it’s an important milestone. But
health experts estimate it’s still well below the
level needed to reach “herd immunity” and
stop viral transmission altogether.
Including those 12 and older, 63% of eligi-
ble Oregon residents have been fully vacci-
nated against COVID-19. That puts Oregon
in 12th place nationwide.
COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to
go down in Oregon. But hospitalizations did
go up last week, for the first time in about two
months. Most hospitals throughout the state
still are at or near full capacity.
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-0s
and eatery Wine Down have
closed permanently.
The total increase across
Northeastern Oregon coun-
ties was approximately 1,450
jobs over the year ending in
September. Of those jobs
added, 700 were in the private
sector.
Across the state, unem-
ployment rates fell to 4.7%,
down from its high of 13.2%
in April 2020 when govern-
ment-mandated shutdowns
halted economies across the
United States. The unem-
ployment rate sits slightly
higher than its pre-pandemic
level of 3.5%, flirting with
the idea of a full recovery
as COVID-19 infections fall
across the state, and vaccina-
tion rates rise to 80%, accord-
ing to the Oregon Health
Authority.
Unemployment claims fell
dramatically over the year,
tumbling from 1,918 unem-
ployment claims in September
2020, to just 794 in Septem-
ber 2021, a nearly 60% drop
in claims numbers. Those
numbers had been contin-
ually dropping since Janu-
ary 2021, and the last three
months, starting in July, have
had marginal decreases as
federal unemployment bene-
fits dry up.
Last
NATIONAL EXTREMES
-10s
with Clackamas and Yamhill
counties.
Umatilla County with an
unemployment rate of 5%
placed 14th in September
among Oregon’s 36 counties,
tied with Jackson County.
During the year, the coun-
ty’s seasonally adjusted
unemployment rate fell by
1.2 percentage points since
September 2020. Umatilla
County led job growth primar-
ily through public sector jobs,
adding 470 government jobs
during the year.
Union County is largely
back on track, according to
economists, but not fully
recovered from the 1,400
jobs lost at the start of the
pandemic. Leisure and hospi-
tality regained 87% of jobs
lost, but remained roughly
60 shy of full recovery.
Evidence of those statis-
tics can be found in persistent
help wanted signs at fast
food chains such as McDon-
ald’s and Dairy Queen, while
job advertisements have
largely disappeared from the
windows of local restaurants
downtown. Restaurants such
as Mamacita’s International
Grill, La Grande, have had to
close down temporarily due
to staffing shortages, while
others such as local bistro
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