NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, September 1, 2022
Police fi nd no bones at Finley Creek Jane Doe site
By DICK MASON
The Observer
ELGIN — The Finley
Creek Jane Doe case, which
has taken many twists and
turns during the past four
decades, took a pivot in the
wrong direction. But investi-
gators, including Oregon State
Police, are refusing to give up.
Oregon State Police
recently led an excavation
project at a site near Finley
Creek, 18 miles north of La
Grande, where the remains of
an unidentifi ed woman were
found in August 1978.
The work was conducted
Aug. 16-17 by the OSP Foren-
sics Service Division, the
State Medical Examiner’s
Offi ce forensic anthropologist,
OSP’s major crimes detectives
and members of the Union
County Search and Rescue
team. The excavation was in
response to recent work of the
Finley Creek Jane Doe Task
Force, which is investigating
the unidentifi ed remains of
the woman found in 1978. The
task force brought cadaver
dogs to the site, and the dogs
showed interest.
Union County Search
and Rescue conducted a grid
search of approximately 3
acres around the original
burial site and the recent
locations where the dogs
showed interest. The team
found more than 50 bones.
The State Medical Examin-
er’s forensic anthropologist
Oregon State Police/Contributed Photo
Excavation work is done Aug. 16-17, 2022, in the Finley Creek area by state forensic personnel
in response to recent interest shown by cadaver dogs brought in by the Finley Creek Jane
Doe Task Force involving the unidentifi ed remains of the woman found in 1978.
agency and other law
enforcement partners will
continue to stay in contact
with all interested parties in
hopes of successfully resolv-
ing the identity of the Finley
Creek Jane Doe and bringing
closure to her family.
Melinda Jederberg, of La
Grande, founded the Finely
Creek Jane Doe Task Force in
2019. She said she appreciates
the hard work OSP did at the
site and said it has helped the
investigation move forward.
examined each bone, but
none were of human origin,
OSP reported in a press
release.
Forensic scientists and
detectives conducted exca-
vations at the two points of
interest from the cadaver
dogs. They also excavated
the original burial site.
“Unfortunately, noth-
ing of evidentiary value was
discovered during the opera-
tion,” the press release stated.
State police said the
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Jeberberg said she hopes
state police can follow up its
excavation work with deeper
digging at the two sites where
the two cadaver dogs alerted
handlers earlier that they
smelled human bones under-
ground. Jeberberg said that
after 44 years, human bones
at the site may be deeper than
the depth excavated.
Investigators believe
bones of the Finely Creek
Jane Doe may remain near
the burial site because
when her skeletal remains
were found in 1978 an arm
was missing, said Suzanne
Timms of Walla Walla, who
is assisting with the search as
a volunteer. Timms is certain
the Finley Creek Jane Doe is
her mother, Patricia “Patty”
Otto, of Lewiston, Idaho,
who has been missing since
Aug. 31, 1976.
Timms also said she wants
state police to dig deeper at
the two sites.
“Cadaver dogs are right
95% of the time,” Timms
said, adding dogs can smell
human bones at least 13 feet
deep.
Timms said if bones
cannot be found at the Finley
Creek site that dental records
could be used to prove that
her mother was the person
buried there. She said a
forensic dentist has exam-
ined photos taken of the
Finely Creek Jane Doe’s teeth
in 1978 and they match the
X-rays of her mother’s teeth
her dentist in Lewiston had.
“He is convinced that they
are from the same person,”
Timms said.
Timms fi rst suspected the
Finley Creek Jane Doe was
her mother in 2021 when
she saw an image created
by a forensic artist, Anthony
Redgrave, the operator of
Redgrave Research Foren-
sic Services. Redgrave, who
is from Massachusetts, was
assisting the task force, and
the image he created — based
on photos of the skeletal
remains found in 1978 —
resembled Timms’ mother.
The bones are believed to
have been cremated by the
state after they were found,
Timms said.
Other details have contrib-
uted to Timms’ belief the
Finley Creek Jane Doe is her
mother. The remains were
found with a white shirt and
red pants, which is what Patty
Otto was last seen wearing
before she disappeared in
1976.
Timms said she believes
her father murdered her
mother in Lewiston and
buried her in a shallow grave
at Finley Creek.
OSP’s autopsy records for
the Finley Creek Jane Doe,
however, do not match those
of Patty Otto.
Timms said she believes
the discrepancy is due to
an error made by the OSP’s
medical examiner while
doing examinations of the
skeletal remains of two Jane
Does in his offi ce at about the
same time in 1978. She said
she suspects he assigned his
reports to the wrong remains,
because his report for the
second Jane Doe matches her
mother’s autopsy photos and
dental records.
Timms applauds the work
the state police is now doing
on the case, especially that of
Sgt. Sean Belding.
“He wants to get this right,”
she said. “I have faith in him.”
John Day looking to get out of the red
By STEVEN MITCHELL
Blue Mountain Eagle
Mostly sunny and
cooler
Blazing sunshine
and very hot
Very hot
98° 60°
105° 63°
Hot with plenty of
sunshine
Pleasant with
plenty of sun
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
87° 56°
93° 62°
87° 56°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
103° 63°
100° 55°
89° 55°
96° 63°
OREGON FORECAST
90° 55°
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. Wed.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
75/57
91/55
97/58
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
96/64
Lewiston
85/57
100/56
Astoria
70/56
Pullman
Yakima 97/57
85/52
98/62
Portland
Salem
Corvallis
90/52
Wednesday
Normals
Records
98/60
La Grande
94/48
92/56
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
92/54
96/56
95/55
Ontario
101/57
Caldwell
Burns
95°
59°
87°
53°
101° (1967) 38° (1964)
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
91/53
0.00"
0.04"
0.17"
7.52"
2.46"
5.31"
WINDS (in mph)
97/55
96/52
0.00"
0.04"
0.34"
11.17"
4.35"
8.65"
through 3 p.m. Wed.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Hermiston
Pendleton 91/47
The Dalles 100/55
101/61
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
90/61
98°
63°
85°
55°
101° (1967) 30° (1907)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
83/53
Aberdeen
93/61
96/64
Tacoma
Wednesday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
83/58
Today
Medford
103/62
Fri.
SW 6-12
W 6-12
Boardman
Pendleton
NE 4-8
NNE 6-12
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
94/51
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
First
6:16 a.m.
7:33 p.m.
12:08 p.m.
10:00 p.m.
Full
Last
JOHN DAY — After
the Blue Mountain Hospital
District in John Day posted
a $1.4 million operating loss
for the last fi scal year, the
district’s board of directors
gave a glimpse into some of
its strategies to address fi nan-
cial challenges during the
board’s meeting on Aug. 24.
From applying for more
than $4 million in federal
pandemic relief money to
tossing around the idea of
maximizing the value of the
district’s real estate hold-
ings to off set traveling fees
the hospital pays expensive
contract labor, the district is
looking at various ways to get
back in the black.
Last month, the Blue
Mountain Hospital District
applied for $4.3 million in
disaster relief funds from the
Federal Emergency Manage-
ment Agency, according to
the district’s chief fi nancial
offi cer, Eric Price.
The funding, Price said,
would reimburse the hospi-
tal district for the additional
Steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle
Blue Mountain Hospital in John Day in July 2022 applied for
$4.3 million in disaster relief funds from the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency after posting a loss of $1.4 mil-
lion in the last fi scal year.
costs of operating safely and
handling boosted patient
loads during the COVID-19
pandemic from July 2021 to
June 2022.
According to Price, the
funding is intended to allow
the hospital to be reim-
bursed for the “non-bud-
geted, extraordinary” costs
the hospital has had to incur
over the last year.
Those costs, he said, are
associated with contract
labor, COVID-19 screen-
ers at the front entrance of
the hospital, the purchase
of personal protective
equipment and additional
oxygen tanks, among other
expenses.
Price said he is submit-
ting application packets for
the funding one quarter at a
time and he anticipates that
the hospital will receive its
fi rst funding award within
the next two to three months.
He said last month’s
submission was for $300,000.
New
IN BRIEF
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 114° in Las Vegas, Nev. Low 33° in Yellowstone N.P., Wyo.
Sep 3
Sep 10
Sep 17
Sep 25
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Eastern Promise is now Early
College Initiatives
LA GRANDE — Eastern Oregon Univer-
sity’s Eastern Promise program is getting a
name change.
The decade-old dual credit and profes-
sional development program will be known
as Early College Initiatives, according to a
press release from the school.
With an eye for new avenues of success,
Early College Initiatives will utilize the new
Rural Post-Secondary Economic Develop-
ment grant and Moonshot collaboration to
provide more resources to dual-credit high
school students. ECI is dedicated to creating
a robust environment for students to learn,
teachers to be trained and opportunities to be
realized at Eastern Oregon University.
To contact Early College Initiatives,
parents, students, teachers and other partners
can now email eci@eou.edu or visit eou.edu/
early-college-initiatives.
“The foundation that was laid a decade
ago has allowed us to move forward with
additional grant funding and a new commit-
ment to our dual credit community,” Kathleen
Brown, associate director of Early College
Initiatives, said. “ECI is excited to continue
our partnerships and develop new ones that
help all students in our region, no matter their
educational location, realize their goals of a
college education.”
— EO Media Group
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