Police report: Call claiming missing hiker has reappeared was found to be a hoax
Woman's friend questioned, but not considered a suspect
Saturday, March 13, 2010
The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office said Portland police officers have questioned the friend of a Portland woman missing since March 4, but said he is not considered a suspect in her disappearance.
In addition, Undersheriff Dave Cox said a hoax received Friday by two Portland TV stations has frustrated investigators at a time when Kate Huether’s family is grieving — and searchers and deputies have given their all since Sunday to try to find her.
About 2 p.m. Friday, someone told the TV stations that Huether had just been seen emerging from the trailhead she entered March 4, so reporters called the sheriff’s office. Officers checked and learned it was a hoax.
Cox said the news crews were right to call the sheriff’s office, but he criticized the caller, who made the case even more difficult and has not been identified.
“There are people out there who think it’s fun to do this sort of thing,” Cox said. “I can’t believe someone would do such a thing. That’s absolutely heartless.”
Despite rumors, Cox said, the case is not considered a homicide.
Huether, 24, was last heard from on the afternoon of March 4 when she sent a text message to a male friend that she was going hiking on a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail just north of the Columbia River, near Bonneville Dam.
She was reported missing Saturday.
According to a statement Cox issued Friday afternoon, Huether’s friend was questioned by Portland police but is not considered a suspect in Huether’s disappearance.
Deputies and rescuers searched the trail area on foot and from the air early this week but found nothing except a credit card receipt with Huether’s name on it. Her vehicle was parked at the trailhead.
Another hiker in the area the day Huether disappeared reported she had come across a man who had exposed himself. Deputies have been unable to confirm the report.
Cox said that as of Friday afternoon, “We have not received any more creditable information to warrant putting resources back out into the field.”
Standoff causes school lockdown
A standoff between sheriff’s deputies and an allegedly suicidal person ended at 3 p.m. Friday in Hazel Dell after deputies subdued the person in a home east of Columbia River High School.
The school was locked down as a precaution until classes were released for the day. The home is on Northwest 102nd Street, across the Cougar Creek ravine from the school.
The suicidal person was reportedly a woman who had access to several firearms and threatened to burn down her house, according to radio traffic.
The standoff apparently ended when officers were able to subdue her using a Taser. No officers were injured.
Two women injured in crash
Vancouver police are investigating the role of alcohol in an early Friday morning crash that required firefighters to use the Jaws of Life to extricate two females from a Toyota pickup.
A Chrysler minivan and the Toyota collided about 12:43 a.m. in the 6500 block of Northeast St. Johns Road, according to Jim Flaherty, a Vancouver Fire Department spokesman.
Firefighters responded with one engine and the department’s heavy rescue unit. The hydraulic tool was used to extract the women from the pickup, which suffered “severe intrusion on the driver side.”
Flaherty said the women were transferred to area hospitals by American Medical Response to be treated for injuries that were considered serious but not life-threatening.
The driver of the minivan, also an adult woman, was not believed to be injured but was transported to the hospital as precaution. Police are investigating whether alcohol was involved.
Neighbors applaud drug raid
Residents of Vancouver’s Ogden neighborhood applauded Clark County sheriff’s detectives Thursday night after they raided a home and arrested a suspected methamphetamine dealer.
About 7 p.m. Thursday, members of the Clark County Sheriff’s Tactical Detective Unit arrived with a court warrant to search the home at 8400 N.E. Lewis Drive, north of Fourth Plain Road and the Royal Oaks Country Club.
Bryan M. Nored, who lives at the home, offered no resistance and was arrested on suspicion of possessing meth with intent to deliver, according to sheriff’s Sgt. Duncan Hoss. In the home, detectives found meth in bags, he said.
“Some neighbors were outside and applauding, physically clapping for the detectives,” Hoss said.
Nored’s age wasn’t immediately available because detectives found two birthdates for him.
Late Thursday night, Nored was being held on $10,000 bail in the Clark County Jail. He was to make a first appearance in court Friday morning, a jail official said.
Rate this
You must be logged in to rate this.
Current Rating : Nobody has rated this article yet.
