Ore. corrections officer slain helping motorist

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) -- A state corrections officer has been killed in Eastern Oregon helping a stranded motorist, and a suspect described as having a "troubled past" has been arrested on a murder charge.

The victim was identified as 42-year-old Buddy Ray Herron. The district attorney's office says he was found on Oregon Highway 11 northeast of Pendleton and died later at a hospital.

The Oregonian reports (http://bit.ly/vB1ivN ) Herron stopped late Monday to help a motorist. A corrections spokeswoman, Jennifer Black, says the circumstances of the killing were unclear. Herron worked at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution at Pendleton.

The district attorney's office says 22-year-old Joshua Charles Weeks was arrested on a murder charge.

Umatilla County Sheriff John Trumbo says Weeks has a long criminal history.

___

Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com