OR OR - Heather Thompson, 39, Roseburg, 4 Aug 2010

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Hi Michael,

I'm glad to meet you. I'm sad it has to be under these circumstances, but thank you for reaching out. I really would like to do what I can to get some justice for Heather and some peace and closure for her family and friends.

I hope it's ok if I ask you some questions. I have a TON, so I'll try to keep them in short chunks so as to not overwhelm you (I can be a bit overwhelming at times with my questioning, or so I've been told!). But I can't help it, given my profession. :)

And please do know that I truly am coming to this with an open heart and mind, and am on Heather's side. I come with no judgements. I just want to help her be able to find peace, and bring her killer(s) to justice. She lived in my home state, and we were the same age. I think we would have been kindred spirits had I known her. I only want to help. So please know that I truly apologize if anything I say or ask is hurtful, as that is not my intent at all. And you can also tell me anytime that I'm asking too many questions, or you want me to stop investigating. It's totally OK—because I would NEVER want to do anything that would in any way jeopardize her case.

So, if you're ready, willing, and able, I'll jump right in:

I thought it was VERY odd that CS had the same necklace as well. Do you remember if it was truly identical (meaning the same color of stone and the same color metal, at least to the naked eye) or just similar? Did she play with it at all during dinner—as though she might be nervous, trying to hide it, or anything like that? Did CS seem like someone Heather would have befriended?

You had also mentioned before how strangely CS acted on the day you guys were leaving, like a heavy drug user. Was she acting odd in any way at that meal? Or was everything fine until you were supposed to be leaving? If there's anything you can remember about her mannerisms, something strange she may have said (whether it was just something that struck you as odd, the way she said it, her choice of words, bringing up something off topic, starting to say something and then changing her mind, or even trying to change the subject or steer the conversation toward or away from anything) it might help.

I believe you said you also met MG because he showed you his scar from a heart surgery. (I think it was at the same meal as with CS???) Was there anything about MG that struck you as odd? Did MG seem like someone Heather would have befriended?

Do you think either CS or MG were involved? There have been some thoughts that perhaps they were either involved or were running some sort of scam. I have very little info to go on, since so many of the news items that were looked at at the time are no longer available.

I saw on Heather's memorial page that SM (I assume it was the same SM you are referring to above) had posted something and deleted it, and you had replied to the post… I won't go into all of that here, but do you remember what SM had posted? Given your response to the missing post, I'm hoping that you might recall at least the gist of what was said.

I've tried to search for SM using the name from that post, but no luck. I assume Heather knew SM? Do you know how she would have known SM? Do you know if CS knew SM? Or any other friends or acquaintances of Heather's knew SM? Did SM live in/around Roseburg? Any idea where SM is now?

There is some information that is a bit confusing to me on the memorial page—we know she was on the phone at 1pm, and then was going to run errands. From the police reporting it sounded like she did go out, but from the memorial page it sounded like she never went out to run the errands. Do you know if she ran the errands or not?

In looking back, I think I've already gone overboard in my first round of questions! I think I'll leave it there for now, and wait to hear back from you. Please feel free to take your time responding, as I know it is still very painful. I'm so sorry to be opening old wounds. But hopefully we can work together to figure out what the D.A. felt was problematic with the case, plug up the holes, and get this solved.

If you feel safer replying in a PM, that is totally fine too. I truly thank you and your brother for reaching out to me here, as I was feeling like I was posting here for my own edification. And my husband also thanks you because now he won't be my only sounding board. Even if you choose not to post, if you let me know whether I'm on the right path or not I'd be very grateful.

Thank you!
 
Hi Dr. K, I'm dcc66 - I am exactly who I said I was .
-we never met- we spoke daily. Good luck.
 
So, I was using my husband as a sounding board again last night and we came up with what may be the $64,000 question (or I guess it's now the $100,000 question):

Why was Heather's body hidden?

And let me preface this, once again, by saying that the following discussion with myself is done in an attempt to try to figure out what happened to Heather, to bring her killer to justice, and bring some peace and closure to her family. I am not trying, in any way, to be hurtful to anyone. So I apologize, in advance, if anything here is hurtful. It is certainly not my intent, whatsoever, and I do try my absolute best to state things in a way that are clear and straightforward, but also take into account the feelings and emotions of all involved.

From what I understand, after quite a bit of searching, first by CS, then by CS and MG, then joined by a neighbor, then joined by police, Heather wasn't found until the next day. (I actually just spent the last 2 hours going back through this entire thread with fresh eyes, which only raised more questions, but I believe that's the series of events.) Sadly, again, most of the news stories from that time are no longer available, so I can't access those and have to work from the snippets from the thread and what little I can dig up online.

The various posts also seem to imply that she was killed inside the home, but I don't know that for sure. That raises a series of questions, but I'm going to stick to the one, looming question of the day for now. So, once again:

Why was Heather's body hidden???

I'll start off by saying that I'm going to put aside one set of potential facts: perhaps she was killed elsewhere, and sometime after the group searched for her on the 4th and then LE came back to search again on the 5th (when she was found), the killer returned to the home with the body and hid her. That is a possibility, as I don't know if LE stayed on scene once they were called to her home on the night of the 4th for the missing persons report. I also don't know if at that point the home was taped off as a crime scene. If LE didn't stay, the home wasn't taped off, and no one stayed trying to find her or watch for her, then yes, possibly the killer returned with her body.

But let's lay that possibility aside for a moment, simply because it would be very dangerous to kidnap her from her home, take her someplace else to kill her, and then transport her body back to hide it after LE had already been on scene looking for her.

Why was she hidden really has two components: the why and the where. First the why. I can really only think of a few reasons why a killer would hide his victim: guilt/remorse, attempting to delay discovery, trying to distance themselves from the last time they were seen with the victim and when the victim was found, or to destroy evidence.

Now, I have to start by saying we have very little information to work with here. The general timeframe of her death was probably between 1 pm and 6:30 pm, but I'm still not sure if she went out to run her errands after she got off the phone at 1 pm that day. If she did, then perhaps she got home around 3 pm. Additionally, no one physically went to her home to check on her until the next day, but she didn't show up to her appt that evening, and friends and family couldn't reach her by phone. So the window could be as short as 3-6:30 pm, or as long as 1 pm until the next day when friends first arrived to check on her. I just don't know.

NOTE: This next paragraph is a bit intense. I tried to keep it in medical terms as much as possible, but I just want to warn you. Again, I am only writing this because I really want to figure this out so we can bring some peace to Heather and get her killer(s) behind bars. (Moderators: I hope the following is in accordance with the TOS. If you feel it is too much, I fully understand and feel free to cut.)

Additionally, I don't know the cause of death. But my gut instinct feels that it might have been something along the lines of strangulation/asphixiation or severe head trauma without an external wound. I do not think it would have been stabbing or via gunshot(s), simply because I don't believe it would have taken them that long to find her had it been something that would have resulted in exsanguination. From the pictures of the house, it's not very big so I can't imagine there are that many hiding places. In a narrow timeframe, the killer wouldn't have had time to clean up, much less hide the body; even in the larger timeframe you still run into the big problem with exsanguination, which is that it continues after death, and would have, I believe, led those searching for her straight to where she was hidden.

So now to the reasons to hide her body: I do not believe it was to try to destroy evidence. Since she was hidden in her home, it was only a matter of time before she was found. She wasn't taken to a body of water or the woods surrounding her home, which would have been places that would have been more likely had this been the reason.

Next up is trying to distance themselves from the last time they were seen with the victim: perhaps Heather did go and run her errands, and met up with her killer while she was out. Perhaps she even gave her killer a ride. I don't think there are many neighbors close by who would have still seen this person in the truck, but there is a possibility that this person could have been seen with Heather shortly before her death when she was out on her errands. However, I'm still not 100% sure whether or not she did go and run her errands that day, and definitely don't know if she was seen with anyone or not, so I can't go much further on this one.

Trying to delay discovery: This is a possibility, since it did take potentially two days before Heather was found. If Heather was killed on afternoon/evening of the 3rd, and wasn't found until the 5th (after multiple searches of her home and property), she obviously was well hidden. Again, I don't know where she was found nor do I know how many hiding places a home of that size would have. It leads to the question, however, of how well the murderer knew her home in order to know where to hide her. But that aside, the delay in discovery could have given the killer time to leave town, build an alibi, or do God knows what else. This, to me, is potentially a reason.

Finally, guilt/remorse: Hiding Heather for this reason would most likely be due to an emotion connection to her, and feeling the need to cover or conceal her in some way to distance himself from the shame/guilt/remorse of what he did. I think this would most often be done by covering the victim, not necessarily hiding the victim, but there may be some of this at work here. Now that I'm thinking about it (as I write this), it could also be a final expression of anger—after being so mad, mad enough to kill her, he then hid her somewhere out of anger. I won't go into my full thought process of what the killer could be thinking here out of respect for the friends and family members who do post here, but given our potential suspects and what had happened recently, that is a strong possibility. (Moderators: I realize you may need to cut that because I'm saying that I can't say something, but hopefully it can stay because there is a point there.)

So, why do I think this is the big question of the day? One simple reason: she knew her killer. Some stranger who just came in and killed her randomly wouldn't have cared enough to cover her, much less hide her in the house.

Which then leads to the question: of the people she knew, who would have been able to carry out this horrible crime, as well as hide her (and restrain Louie, assuming Heather hadn't done that herself)? Again, given that we don't know COD nor where she was found, we can't go any further down this road for now. But there were a finite number of people she knew in the area, a finite number of people that would have known where she lived, a finite number of people who would have had the physical ability to carry out this horrific act, and a finite number of people who would have been able to conceal her—all with Louie there.

So… any thoughts? Feel free to PM me if you'd rather talk privately.
 
Two additional things I forgot to mention above:

1. Concealment to delay detection could have been because the killer knew that she was expected at a friend's house that evening, and that the friend might come to check if she didn't show up. However, why wasn't the door properly closed?

2. Again, if the killer knew that Heather did have this appointment planned, and hid her because of that, then he obviously knew her well. And may have known her friends well enough to worry that they might come to check on her that same day if she didn't show up that evening when she was expected.

(Sorry, just self edited because I started going into all my other questions. Let's just focus on the question of the day for now!) ;)
 
:seeya: The discussion should remain on the board. Inviti g and discussing private messages in public posts is not only rude, but a TOS violation, as well. If you wish to send a pm, then just send it. No need to announce it. ;)

Thank you.

Bessie
WS Administrator
 
The necklace. If I remember right, it was a claw holding a marble type glass stone. I've seen others wearing it over the years. If memory serves, they were the same. Like I said before, it dawned on me after my brother and I was heading back home.

Yes, CS did act strangely. Living here in Southern Missouri now, I see people often with the same kind of twitchy behavior. I assume it's drug related. Could even be due to prescription drugs.

I don't totally know if they were involved. But I can say, when I met them, I didn't like them. There was something just off about them.

Heather would befriend just about anyone, but she would not just allow anyone to come into her home. That whole story CS told about having to use Google Maps to find her house because she had never been there, but then later saying she was there for a dinner seems WAY OFF.

I don't exactly remember what SM said in that post. I know it was something about him being a member of the family and he would never do such a thing. See, SM was married to Heather's cousin and he was like family. He was at every Christmas party, 4th of July party and Halloween party for many years.

If memory serves, SM's wife divorced him. He was looking for a fresh start so he went with Heather to Oregon so they could split bills and he could do all the manly stuff around the house. I wasn't talking to Heather much at that time because I was dealing with my new son with my current wife, but I remember something about him taking advantage of the situation and she was upset with him often for being lazy. He eventually found a job, but it was in another town, so he moved there.

The last I remember, SM, after being arrested and released, took off to the East Coast to live with family out there. I never see mention of him on his ex-wife's Facebook.

I had not talked to Heather in a while. Still close, we just had separate lives. I had a new baby son, she was working on her own business.

This will sound strange or even made up, but one morning after I got to work, I received a voicemail from an unknown number. My phone never rang, just a voicemail appeared. I played the file and it gave me goosebumps.

See, I have this favorite band, the Foo Fighters and they had this song I loved called "Let it Die." When I played the voicemail, it was part of that song, but it sounded garbled and tinny, as if it was recorded in a tunnel. It had a far away sound.

I just thought it was a glitch in my phone and deleted the message. But after a while, it started eating at me. So I sent Heather a text asking how she was doing, hoping she would reply soon, so I could tell her about the recording.

She was really into strange things like that.

I never heard back. I talked to her dad, my brother, but no one had heard back from her.

To this day, I believe that message I received was from her.
 
only71stitches said:
This will sound strange or even made up, but one morning after I got to work, I received a voicemail from an unknown number. My phone never rang, just a voicemail appeared. I played the file and it gave me goosebumps.

See, I have this favorite band, the Foo Fighters and they had this song I loved called "Let it Die." When I played the voicemail, it was part of that song, but it sounded garbled and tinny, as if it was recorded in a tunnel. It had a far away sound.

I just thought it was a glitch in my phone and deleted the message. But after a while, it started eating at me. So I sent Heather a text asking how she was doing, hoping she would reply soon, so I could tell her about the recording.

She was really into strange things like that.

I never heard back. I talked to her dad, my brother, but no one had heard back from her.

To this day, I believe that message I received was from her.
Click to expand...

I don't think it sounds strange or made up—I have had unexplainable things like that happen to me too, so I totally understand.

Thanks for the other information as well. It's helped a lot. More soon—we had snow here that wreaked havoc with our wifi. Ugh. Anyway, hope all is well. If there's anything else anyone has discovered or remembered from that time, please share. Thanks!
 
Dr K. This is xdeadboltx. I have not been on in a long time. My name is Stephanie. Heather and I were friends in Vegas. I've read what you have posted so far. Heather's dog Louie, was like a child to her. She loved that dog so. She would take him places with her. He was a big dog. Who ever did this, knew of him. Also I think may have been around him too. Like Michael said, she didn't just let anyone in her house. Plus honestly, Heather would of never went to stay the night at a friend's house without him.
 
Seven years, come and gone and still no answers or closure for any of us.

Heather, I don't know if you are checking up on us or busy with your new life out there where ever you may be... But I have another son now if you can believe that!!! Ryder will be one soon and Aiden as you know, will be nine this year.

I missed your birthday this year and I am sorry, but the new kid really takes a lot out of me these days. Kids are a game for the young. LOL

I've missed being able to call you up and chat about life and I'm so sorry no one has solved this horrible crime. I check often to see if any new news has come out, but I never find any mention of you on the web.

I feel like we failed you.

Michael
 
Dr. K said:
I don't think it sounds strange or made up—I have had unexplainable things like that happen to me too, so I totally understand.

Thanks for the other information as well. It's helped a lot. More soon—we had snow here that wreaked havoc with our wifi. Ugh. Anyway, hope all is well. If there's anything else anyone has discovered or remembered from that time, please share. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Anything ?
 
Just checking in to see if anything new has happened on this case. It's hard to believe it's been 8 years. Heather is on my mind frequently.
 
Heather, your murderer is still not caught. We are sorry, and we do not understand why this is taking as long as it is.
 
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