Carr's disappearance, death baffling
Despite the fact that more information continues to come to light in the unexplained deaths of a film producer and his daughter, the pieces in the puzzling story of Terry Martin Carr and Arieka Carr still don't fit well. Autopsy results on the pair obtained this week were inconclusive, according to statements by officials, and the reasons for the deaths may remain unexplained for weeks, until pending toxicology results are delivered.
On Monday paramedics from the Northshore Fire Authority's Clearlake Oaks station discovered the bodies of Terry Carr, 62, and 9-year-old Arieka, lying in the back of his 2002 Jeep Cherokee at the Clearlake Oaks Tower Mart.
Detective Brent Jensen of the Ashland, Ore., Police Department, who has led that agency's investigation into the matter, told the Record-Bee Friday that the pair disappeared the day before while they along with Chikako Carr, 50, Terry Carr's wife were at an Ashland grocery store.
Described in a Friday Los Angeles Times report as a "doting" father, Terry Carr's disappearance and death reportedly has family and friends at a loss.
The story begins a week ago Friday July 29 when Terry, Chikako and Arieka Carr arrived in Ashland, where they rented an apartment.
Jensen said Chikako Carr told him she and her husband originally considered moving to Powers, Ore., to escape the big city. With a population of just over 700 people, Powers located on the Oregon coast near Coos Bay boasts a good school system and has a good student-teacher ratio, qualities the couple was looking for, Jensen reported.
But, ultimately, the Carrs who the Los Angeles Times reported Friday were used to living in a high-rise Wiltshire Boulevard condominium in Westwood decided against Powers.
"They kinda decided that was too remote," Jensen said.
Instead, they looked south, at Ashland. Jensen said Chikako Carr told him her husband had heard about Ashland a small southern Oregon city that is home to Southern Oregon University, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and a thriving arts community from his Los Angeles business contacts.
The local university also has an active community of Japanese students, which Jensen theorized might have attracted Chikako Carr, who is of Japanese heritage.
With its good schools and artistic style, "They thought that Ashland was a comfortable place," said Jensen.
So on July 29 they rented an apartment and moved in, with very little of their belongings, most of which remain in storage in Powers, said Jensen.
The same day, Jensen said, a man spotted the couple dumping boxes and bags of possessions into a pasture, including old family photos and files, and reported it to the Jackson County Sheriff's Office. The possessions were later determined to belong to Terry Carr.
Jensen said he believes it was an attempt by the family to "start a new chapter or to close an old one."
Two days later, on Sunday, the family was at Ashland's Market of Choice, a full-service grocery store and deli, said Jensen, when the story took its strange turn.
The weather has been extremely hot in Ashland recently, said Jensen; the market's deli area, with its air conditioning and seating, offers a good place to escape the heat. Jensen calls it "a nice place to hang out if you're from out of town."
The family was in the store at around 2 p.m. Chikako Carr left her husband and daughter briefly to use the restroom, Jensen related; when she came back out, they were nowhere to be found.
In police work, said Jensen, "you look at every scenario."
His department reviewed the store's security films to check Chikako Carr's story.
"We were able to confirm that with the surveillance cameras that they had in the store," said Jensen, who explained that Terry Carr is seen with his daughter "nonchalantly walking out to the car."
Terry Carr, according to his wife, had "never done anything like this before," said Jensen, and that it was "totally out of character."
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