GUILTY OR - Ashley Benson, 24, found slain in Portland hotel stairwell, 26 Dec 2014

A woman found dead on Friday at a Northeast Portland hotel died of homicidal violence, the Oregon State Medical Examiner said.

Portland police on Saturday identified the victim as 24-year-old Ashley Renee Benson of Vancouver...

Police do not have any suspect information. Homicide detectives were called to the DoubleTree Hotel at the Lloyd Center just before 11 a.m. Friday. Benson was found dead in a stairwell, Simpson said.

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Sunday, investigators said Benson “was a victim of sex trafficking but it is not clear if that is directly related to her death.”

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A suspect has been arrested in connection with the killing of 24-year-old Ashley Renee Benson at the Lloyd Center DoubleTree last month, police announced Friday...

Evidence led investigators to 24-year-old Tae Bum Yoon, of Bellevue, said Portland police Sgt. Pete Simpson. Yoon was arrested Wednesday after arriving by train at Union Station in Portland.

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When police went to search an accused murderer's apartment in Bellevue, Wash., they looked for photographs of the woman they say he killed, diaries, notes, logs, and receipts that could put the alleged killer inside the DoubleTree Hotel.

Later, when Tae Bum Yoon was caught after Portland detectives spent days following evidence on his and the victim's cellphones, he reportedly asked them a pointed question. “How did you find me?” Yoon inquired, according to court documents...

Michaels spoke with a hotel employee who said she had received three phone calls from an anonymous woman worried about her friend who had met with a person and who had agreed to go to his room which was 715, court records show. The caller had not heard from her friend and was concerned for her welfare, Steed wrote. On the final call, the person told the employee that her friend was supposed to meet a person named Chris Yoon, court records show.

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Police found that multiple phone calls had been made from the DoubleTree's Room 715 to a Washington phone number with the area code "360.'' A detective did a Google search on the phone number and found it listed in ads for an escort service... showing photos of a woman matching Benson under the name "Foxxy. Veronica.''

The day Benson's body was found, police obtained a judge's signature, allowing police to track through GPS the location of the cell phone with the "360" phone number. On Dec. 28, members of Multnomah County's search and rescue team found Benson's phone. Court records did not identify the location. The cell phone revealed Benson had received an email...

The email said: "Let me make this clear before you read my message. You WILL be COMPENSATED for all the time you invested in me. I have every intention of PAYING you... Before you blame me 100%, I want you to know that you did break our agreement. You did post and although I forgave you, I did find new listings in Houston texas backpage.''

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A grand jury has indicted the man accused of killing a 25-year-old woman at the DoubleTree Hotel with one count each of murder and first-degree manslaughter.

Tae Bum Yoon, 24, will be arraigned Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

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Ashley Benson's parents believe their daughter was victimized three times: first by a pimp, second by a killer and third by those who said she wasn't a victim.

"Ashley wouldn't have done this if she wasn't being pressured into doing it," said her stepmother, Jodie Benson...

Since Ashley's murder, the Bensons say they've been getting calls from other young women caught up in the sex trade, looking for answers to their own questions. "These girls feel like there's no way out and that at some point, they'll be murdered as well," said Jodie Benson. "I tell them, 'I know you feel threatened and you're scared, but our daughter didn't reach out to us and look what happened.'"

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A website police and lawmakers say is a big part of human trafficking cases is now facing a federal lawsuit.

Now, the city of Portland is about to join in the fight against BackPage.com. City commissioners say they expect a unanimous vote to file a legal brief of support in their council meeting Jan. 21st.

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A man accused of murdering a woman at a hotel near Lloyd Center was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation at Oregon State Hospital

Tae Bum Yoon, 25, was committed to the hospital earlier this month for a period not to exceed 30 days.

According to court documents, a report on his evaluation from Oregon State Hospital will include, "Findings and conclusions as to whether or not the defendant, at the time the homicide was committed, was under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance, whether or not the disturbance was the result of the defendant's own intentional, knowing, reckless or criminally negligent act, and whether or not there was a reasonable explanation for the disturbance."

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Ashley Benson’s family has been waiting a very long time for the day to come when they could finally confront her killer and get some closure.

With just three words, 26-year-old Tae Bum Yoon made a plea deal, admitting that he killed the 24-year-old Benson on Christmas Day 2014.

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The family didn’t mince words about Yoon himself, either.

“The only thing I feel for you is pity and disgust,” Sierra Smith, Benson’s sister, said. “Never in a million years did I think I’d feel sorry for a man that killed my sister, but here I am.”

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