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Murdered and missing: Cases from the 1980s and 1990s could be solved with the right evidence
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| H&N photo by Andrew Mariman Memories and small photos are all Dickie Beals has left of his father. Richard Beales was murdered in 1990 at his home on Altamont Drive. |
February 11, 2007
Dickie Beals lives on the same plot of land where his father was shot dead 17 years ago.
Every day, he gazes out his window to a fenced area in front of his neighbor's house - the site where authorities found Richard Beals' body after he stumbled there and fell.
In front of his mobile home on Altamont Drive is the car Dickie Beals purchased from his dad during his teen years.
Yet despite these reminders, the 40-year-old man says the murder has long been forgotten and remains unsolved. Detectives who worked the case in February 1990 have since retired and moved. Case files have been tucked away.
Dickie Beals still wants to see justice served and is among family members of those murdered and missing who wait for answers.
“I just want something done,” he said. “I want to be able to put this behind me.”
Investigators say it's not that easy.
Occasionally, they get a case that doesn't have enough evidence to convict a person in court. For example, they may have circumstantial evidence, but they don't have the physical evidence linking a person to the scene. These cases haunt them.
“Just the mention of them weighs on you because you know they're not solved,” said Klamath County Sheriff's Detective Jeff Lord, who has worked investigations for more than 25 years.
The unsolved Beals case is just one of several noteworthy unsolved cases from the early 1980s and late 1990s. Investigators say these cases remain open and could still be solved with the right corroborating evidence.
Date: June 24, 1980
Victim:
Catherine Ivie
Synopsis: Unsolved homicide
Investigators found the body of 18-year-old Cathy Ivie in an apartment on East Main Street. She had been stabbed, and her apartment torched, says Lord.
He worked the case in the 1980s as a detective with the Klamath Falls Police Department.
Lord remembers waking to a call about the homicide that night. Inside the apartment, the walls and ceiling were ensconced in smoke. The floor was covered with water. Possible physical evidence had been destroyed by the blaze.
“Had the building not been torched, we'd probably have a pretty good crime scene,” Lord said.
Investigators managed to retrieve a palm print from a wall and a crime lab compared it to 30 other prints they'd retrieved from those who knew Ivie. But they later discovered the print was Ivie's. Afterward, they received countless tips following the publicity of the case, but none panned out, Lord said.
Detectives could piece together some clues. There was no forced entry to the apartment, so they believe the murder was committed by someone she knew.
However, investigators couldn't determine a motive for Ivie's murder. She was a slightly developmentally delayed woman who had no known enemies and lived in a familiar neighborhood close to family.
“It was a vicious attack against someone who couldn't defend herself,” he said.
Date: July 11, 1987
Victim: Carl Fodge
Synopsis: Unsolved homicide
A landlord found Carl Fodge, 65, beaten to death in his East Main Street apartment.
Days later, city police investigators made two arrests in connection with the murder and took the case to a grand jury. But the grand jury didn't indict the pair, who aren't being identified because charges weren't filed, and they walked free.
The case didn't have DNA evidence linking the pair to the scene, which is why authorities think a grand jury didn't return an indictment, said Jim Toddy, an investigator with the Klamath County District Attorney's Office.
Toddy, whose main responsibilities now include helping prosecutors prepare for trials, has acquired several cases from law enforcement agencies with the hope they could be solved. The Fodge case was one of them.
He said investigators formed a theory on the man's murder - they believe a group of people was visiting him at his home when someone or some people attacked him with a club. Robbery was a possible motive.
Toddy said the case could still be solved if investigators send old evidence to a crime lab and link a suspect to the scene.
Date: May 20, 1989
Victim:
Robert Parker
Synopsis: Unsolved homicide
Police found the body of Robert Parker, 52, in his S. El Dorado Boulevard home. He had been shot multiple times in his chest and stomach area, according to 1989 newspaper reports. There was no forced entry, and the man's phone line had been cut.
His estranged wife soon became a suspect after investigators discovered she was a beneficiary on his life insurance policy and could have been at the home at the time of the murder, said Jesse Haskins, who inherited the case in 2001 as an investigator with the district attorney's office.
The woman, who is not being identified because charges weren't filed, was living on the Oregon coast and had “disappeared on the coast for a 12-hour period of time ironically at the same time her husband was murdered,” Haskins said.
Investigators also discovered she had purchased a gun in Washington prior to the murder. In addition, she told people before Parker was slain that she was having dreams her husband was killed, police reports say.
“She said she never had a gun, never owned a gun, and then they found out she lied,” Haskins said.
The evidence was so overwhelming against the woman that an insurance company determined she was liable for her husband's death and halted her funds, investigators say. But the evidence wasn't strong enough at the time for a conviction, investigators added. They never recovered the weapon and couldn't prove she pulled the trigger, Haskins said.
The case remains open in case additional evidence is found linking the woman, who no longer lives in Klamath Falls, to the scene.
Date: Feb. 5, 1990
Victim: Richard Beals
Synopsis: Unsolved homicide
Richard Beals Sr., 46, came home with groceries when he apparently interrupted a burglary taking place at his Altamont Drive home. That's when he was shot to death with one of his own rifles, police reports say.
The man managed to stagger in front of a neighbor's house where he fell unconscious and his body was later found. He was transported to Merle West Medical Center, but died on the way there.
Two days later, investigators discovered Beals' abandoned pickup beside a grocery warehouse on South Sixth Street, calling it the first break in the case, according to 1990 newspaper reports. Beals' son, Richard “Dickie” Beals Jr., believes the suspects drove away in his father's pickup after murdering him.
Dickie Beals was supposed to meet his dad at the YMCA to play basketball the night of the murder.
“I never did see him that night,” he says.
He has heard bits and pieces of the story from family members.
“I don't know how the situation unfolded,” he says. “I'll never know.”
Investigators attempted to piece the incident together following the murder. Klamath County Sheriff's Detective John Dougherty, who worked patrols in early 1990 before moving to investigations, remembers working tips for a year after the murder.
They interviewed several people, but a lack of physical evidence hindered the investigation, Dougherty said.
Date: Dec. 5, 1998
Victim: Derrick Engebretson
Synopsis: Missing person
Probably Klamath County's most highly publicized missing person case in recent years is the case of 8-year-old Derrick Engebretson.
The Bonanza boy, called “Bear Boy” by his family, went hunting for a Christmas tree with his dad and grandpa at Pelican Butte near Rocky Point when he vanished without a trace. Investigators say Derrick disappeared after telling his grandpa he wanted to go up a hill to his father.
“Grandpa came down, dad came down, but no Derrick,” said Klamath County Sheriff's Detective John Dougherty, who has followed the case since its beginning.
The boy's disappearance occurred during a winter storm that blanketed the area with several feet of snow, which hindered the search that involved hundreds of people, including the boy's family. After two weeks, search and rescue officials didn't turn up a single trace of him.
Over the years, authorities have returned to the same spot in spring and summer months, hoping to find clues. Bones and blood were found on a few occasions, but were later tested and determined to be from an animal. In addition, authorities found a pair of boots, but they weren't Derrick's.
“It's very frustrating to not have closure for hundreds of people involved in this case,” Dougherty said.
The detective believes the boy's disappearance could be either a missing person case or a criminal investigation - he hasn't ruled either out.
In 2002, Frank J. Milligan, a convicted rapist and attempted murderer serving time in prison, became a suspect after he confessed to murdering the boy, but he later retracted his statement. Investigators could never link him to the area at the time of Derrick's disappearance. Yet Dougherty said the link between Milligan and the boy is still a possibility.
Investigators still seek closure for Derrick's family in a case that's haunted Dougherty since 1998. And it haunts his family - the boy's father, Robert Engebretson, still walks the area where his son vanished, Dougherty says.
“I have no idea what they're going through, but I imagine it's hell.”
- Laura McVicker
Dickie Beals lives on the same plot of land where his father was shot dead 17 years ago.
Every day, he gazes out his window to a fenced area in front of his neighbor's house - the site where authorities found Richard Beals' body after he stumbled there and fell.
In front of his mobile home on Altamont Drive is the car Dickie Beals purchased from his dad during his teen years.
Yet despite these reminders, the 40-year-old man says the murder has long been forgotten and remains unsolved. Detectives who worked the case in February 1990 have since retired and moved. Case files have been tucked away.
Dickie Beals still wants to see justice served and is among family members of those murdered and missing who wait for answers.
“I just want something done,” he said. “I want to be able to put this behind me.”
Investigators say it's not that easy.
Occasionally, they get a case that doesn't have enough evidence to convict a person in court. For example, they may have circumstantial evidence, but they don't have the physical evidence linking a person to the scene. These cases haunt them.
“Just the mention of them weighs on you because you know they're not solved,” said Klamath County Sheriff's Detective Jeff Lord, who has worked investigations for more than 25 years.
The unsolved Beals case is just one of several noteworthy unsolved cases from the early 1980s and late 1990s. Investigators say these cases remain open and could still be solved with the right corroborating evidence.
Date: June 24, 1980
Victim:
Catherine Ivie
Synopsis: Unsolved homicide
Investigators found the body of 18-year-old Cathy Ivie in an apartment on East Main Street. She had been stabbed, and her apartment torched, says Lord.
He worked the case in the 1980s as a detective with the Klamath Falls Police Department.
Lord remembers waking to a call about the homicide that night. Inside the apartment, the walls and ceiling were ensconced in smoke. The floor was covered with water. Possible physical evidence had been destroyed by the blaze.
“Had the building not been torched, we'd probably have a pretty good crime scene,” Lord said.
Investigators managed to retrieve a palm print from a wall and a crime lab compared it to 30 other prints they'd retrieved from those who knew Ivie. But they later discovered the print was Ivie's. Afterward, they received countless tips following the publicity of the case, but none panned out, Lord said.
Detectives could piece together some clues. There was no forced entry to the apartment, so they believe the murder was committed by someone she knew.
However, investigators couldn't determine a motive for Ivie's murder. She was a slightly developmentally delayed woman who had no known enemies and lived in a familiar neighborhood close to family.
“It was a vicious attack against someone who couldn't defend herself,” he said.
Date: July 11, 1987
Victim: Carl Fodge
Synopsis: Unsolved homicide
A landlord found Carl Fodge, 65, beaten to death in his East Main Street apartment.
Days later, city police investigators made two arrests in connection with the murder and took the case to a grand jury. But the grand jury didn't indict the pair, who aren't being identified because charges weren't filed, and they walked free.
The case didn't have DNA evidence linking the pair to the scene, which is why authorities think a grand jury didn't return an indictment, said Jim Toddy, an investigator with the Klamath County District Attorney's Office.
Toddy, whose main responsibilities now include helping prosecutors prepare for trials, has acquired several cases from law enforcement agencies with the hope they could be solved. The Fodge case was one of them.
He said investigators formed a theory on the man's murder - they believe a group of people was visiting him at his home when someone or some people attacked him with a club. Robbery was a possible motive.
Toddy said the case could still be solved if investigators send old evidence to a crime lab and link a suspect to the scene.
Date: May 20, 1989
Victim:
Robert Parker
Synopsis: Unsolved homicide
Police found the body of Robert Parker, 52, in his S. El Dorado Boulevard home. He had been shot multiple times in his chest and stomach area, according to 1989 newspaper reports. There was no forced entry, and the man's phone line had been cut.
His estranged wife soon became a suspect after investigators discovered she was a beneficiary on his life insurance policy and could have been at the home at the time of the murder, said Jesse Haskins, who inherited the case in 2001 as an investigator with the district attorney's office.
The woman, who is not being identified because charges weren't filed, was living on the Oregon coast and had “disappeared on the coast for a 12-hour period of time ironically at the same time her husband was murdered,” Haskins said.
Investigators also discovered she had purchased a gun in Washington prior to the murder. In addition, she told people before Parker was slain that she was having dreams her husband was killed, police reports say.
“She said she never had a gun, never owned a gun, and then they found out she lied,” Haskins said.
The evidence was so overwhelming against the woman that an insurance company determined she was liable for her husband's death and halted her funds, investigators say. But the evidence wasn't strong enough at the time for a conviction, investigators added. They never recovered the weapon and couldn't prove she pulled the trigger, Haskins said.
The case remains open in case additional evidence is found linking the woman, who no longer lives in Klamath Falls, to the scene.
Date: Feb. 5, 1990
Victim: Richard Beals
Synopsis: Unsolved homicide
Richard Beals Sr., 46, came home with groceries when he apparently interrupted a burglary taking place at his Altamont Drive home. That's when he was shot to death with one of his own rifles, police reports say.
The man managed to stagger in front of a neighbor's house where he fell unconscious and his body was later found. He was transported to Merle West Medical Center, but died on the way there.
Two days later, investigators discovered Beals' abandoned pickup beside a grocery warehouse on South Sixth Street, calling it the first break in the case, according to 1990 newspaper reports. Beals' son, Richard “Dickie” Beals Jr., believes the suspects drove away in his father's pickup after murdering him.
Dickie Beals was supposed to meet his dad at the YMCA to play basketball the night of the murder.
“I never did see him that night,” he says.
He has heard bits and pieces of the story from family members.
“I don't know how the situation unfolded,” he says. “I'll never know.”
Investigators attempted to piece the incident together following the murder. Klamath County Sheriff's Detective John Dougherty, who worked patrols in early 1990 before moving to investigations, remembers working tips for a year after the murder.
They interviewed several people, but a lack of physical evidence hindered the investigation, Dougherty said.
Date: Dec. 5, 1998
Victim: Derrick Engebretson
Synopsis: Missing person
Probably Klamath County's most highly publicized missing person case in recent years is the case of 8-year-old Derrick Engebretson.
The Bonanza boy, called “Bear Boy” by his family, went hunting for a Christmas tree with his dad and grandpa at Pelican Butte near Rocky Point when he vanished without a trace. Investigators say Derrick disappeared after telling his grandpa he wanted to go up a hill to his father.
“Grandpa came down, dad came down, but no Derrick,” said Klamath County Sheriff's Detective John Dougherty, who has followed the case since its beginning.
The boy's disappearance occurred during a winter storm that blanketed the area with several feet of snow, which hindered the search that involved hundreds of people, including the boy's family. After two weeks, search and rescue officials didn't turn up a single trace of him.
Over the years, authorities have returned to the same spot in spring and summer months, hoping to find clues. Bones and blood were found on a few occasions, but were later tested and determined to be from an animal. In addition, authorities found a pair of boots, but they weren't Derrick's.
“It's very frustrating to not have closure for hundreds of people involved in this case,” Dougherty said.
The detective believes the boy's disappearance could be either a missing person case or a criminal investigation - he hasn't ruled either out.
In 2002, Frank J. Milligan, a convicted rapist and attempted murderer serving time in prison, became a suspect after he confessed to murdering the boy, but he later retracted his statement. Investigators could never link him to the area at the time of Derrick's disappearance. Yet Dougherty said the link between Milligan and the boy is still a possibility.
Investigators still seek closure for Derrick's family in a case that's haunted Dougherty since 1998. And it haunts his family - the boy's father, Robert Engebretson, still walks the area where his son vanished, Dougherty says.
“I have no idea what they're going through, but I imagine it's hell.”
- Laura McVicker
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Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of HeraldAndNews.com. Comment Disclaimer: The editors of heraldandnews.com reserve the right to refuse publication of any comment posted for consideration. We may refuse for any reason, including use of profanity, disparaging comments, libelous comments, etc. Any reader who notices a comment they believe is particularly offensive, should notify us at webmaster@heraldandnews.com.
skii v. wrote on Jun 26, 2009 12:51 AM:
" Steven Vannarath is my cousin and he is a really good guy.ive been talking to him for the last couple months.After that night happend,i could not sleep for days thinging about him.He has a beautyful daughter that he miss.he will be a free man im acouple of months.GOD LET YOU BE WITH EVERYONE AMEN "
phillip wrote on Feb 1, 2009 1:43 AM:
" I'm looking for 100+ acreas of land with anual running water, stream, etc, with tree's, as forested as posible, am going to build a cabin for me to retire, thank you. "
Stephanie Patterson Southwell wrote on Oct 4, 2008 6:19 PM:
" I came across this article and find it very interesting. My grandad was the "Southwell" in Southwell & Stilwell :) My dad and uncles were raised in Klamath Falls until they moved to the Portland area. "
Margaret wrote on Apr 29, 2008 11:19 AM:
" It appears the two negative reader comments are associated with the wrong article, as they do not seem to relate. It's unfortunate they are appearing after reading such a nice article about this concert. "
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Rebecca T wrote on Jul 10, 2009 9:16 PM: