GUILTY OR - Renee Harvey, 25, found strangled in her Portland home, 15 Jan 1988

PastTense

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Renee Harvey was the girl next door; friends described her as shy, trusting and vulnerable. The small town girl from Montana moved to Portland to pursue an acting and singing career. She had landed a role in a local performance of "Oklahoma" and was performing in the church choir. She had big dreams for her future.

But on Jan. 15, 1988, Harvey, 25, was found strangled in her apartment on Southeast 27th Avenue. Just a few days before her murder, cold case investigators said, someone had burglarized the apartment. Friends said Harvey had concerns other tenants in the building may have been involved. "Naturally, she was quite fearful of staying alone in the apartment," said cold case investigator George Young. "The next few nights after the burglary, she had her friends stay with her."
http://www.kptv.com/story/19011332/cold-case-portland-woman-burglarized-days-before-murder

Portland police arrested a 59-year-old man in connection with the 1988 slaying of Renee Harvey in Southeast Portland.

Walter Wayne Howard was arrested in San Diego with help from California authorities. He will be booked into San Diego County Jail and is awaiting extradition to Oregon, police said.
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/11/cold_case_detectives_make_arre.html
 
DNA links neighbor to 1988 Portland murder

http://koin.com/2015/10/22/dna-links-neighbor-to-1988-portland-murder/

Walter Wayne Howard, who detectives have linked to a 1988 homicide, will remain in jail pending trial.

Multnomah County Judge Kelly Skye said there is enough evidence to support the state’s theory that Howard killed Renee Harvey on Jan. 15, 1988. Skye said she reached her decision to deny Howard’s bail based on DNA evidence.

“This is DNA evidence that is blood and it’s a very specific DNA finding and it’s not just blood in the apartment, it’s actually found near the body right at scene of the homicide. There’s no other explanation for its presence,” Skye said.
 
Sex offender gets 11 years for Portland Cold Case killing

http://www.kptv.com/story/31601985/sex-offender-gets-11-years-for-portland-cold-case-killing

A registered sex offender was sentenced to 11 years in prison for killing his Portland neighbor in a former cold case solved thanks to DNA evidence.

Sex offender who killed neighbor in 1988 -- went unpunished for decades -- headed to prison

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2016/03/sex_offender_who_killed_neighb.html

Prosecutor Brian Davidson said in agreeing to a plea deal, he took into account the prison time Howard likely would have served had he gone to trial. A murder conviction would likely have netted Howard only 13 to 16 years in prison because he would be subject to 1988 sentencing standards -- not current sentencing standards, which are tougher, Davidson said.

Harvey's father, who lives out of state, spoke by phone during Howard's sentencing hearing in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Dale Harvey said that he and his wife have lit a candle every night since their daughter's death in 1988. The candle is on their fireplace mantel, next to a photo of Renee and an urn containing her ashes.

A "loving, talented, beautiful daughter, sister, friend, has been destroyed," said Harvey's father, Dale Harvey. "She cannot return."

"Our world is now a more tough, vicious, dangerous world," her father continued. "It's important that we here on Earth do everything we can to help justice prevail."
 

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