State Medical Examiner’s Office Working To Identify Victim In Oregon’s Oldest Unidentified Person Case (Photo) - 09/22/25
Photos: Courtesy of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office
CLACKAMAS COUNTY, Ore. (September 22, 2025) – Today, the partial remains of a woman known only as “Oak Grove Jane Doe” were exhumed at Mountain View Cemetery in Oregon City. The case is Oregon’s oldest unidentified person case and a nearly 80-year-old unsolved homicide.
On April 12, 1946, the partial remains of a woman were discovered in a burlap sack in the Willamette River south of Portland in Clackamas County. Additional remains were found in July and October of that year near Willamette Falls, the McLoughlin Bridge, and again near the original site. Clothing believed to belong to the victim was also recovered from the Clackamas River.
An examination revealed the victim was a middle-aged white woman, likely between 30 and 50 years old, and petite in stature. The cause of death was blunt-force trauma to the head. Following her death, the body was dismembered. The remains were placed in several burlap sacks before being discarded in the river.
The case drew national attention at the time, but her identity was never confirmed. In the 1950s, critical evidence, including the victim’s remains, went missing from law enforcement custody, with no documentation of their disposition. This halted further progress in the case.
When the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office reviewed the case in 2008, investigators made little progress due to the limited physical evidence that remained.
Recently, the Oregon State Police Medical Examiner’s Office Human Identification Program learned the unidentified remains were likely interred at Mountain View Cemetery in Oregon City.
The exhumation was a collaborative effort among the Oregon State Police Medical Examiner’s Office, Clackamas County Medical Examiner’s Office, Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, and Mountain View Cemetery.
Although the recovered remains are degraded, they will undergo advanced forensic testing and analysis in the hope that modern science can accomplish what was not possible in the 1940s — identifying the woman known for generations only as “Oak Grove Jane Doe.”
“For decades, this case was presumed impossible to resolve, and now, after nearly 80 years, we are hopeful we can restore this victim’s name and return her identity to history,” said State Forensic Anthropologist Hailey Collord-Stalder.
Collord-Stalder also thanked Mountain View Cemetery staff, saying, “Cemetery staff have been instrumental in assisting with this process. They have moved quickly and professionally in support of this important effort. We appreciate their commitment to assisting us as we work to resolve this case.”
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About the Oregon State Police
The Oregon State Police (OSP) is a multi-disciplined organization that is charged with protecting the people, wildlife, and natural resources in Oregon. OSP enforces traffic laws on the state’s roadways, investigates and solves crimes, conducts post-mortem examinations and forensic analysis, provides background checks, and provides law enforcement data. The agency regulates gaming and enforces fish, wildlife, and natural resource laws. OSP is comprised of more than 1,400 staff members – including troopers, investigators, and professional staff – who provide a full range of policing and public safety services to Oregon and other law enforcement agencies throughout Oregon.
