PORTLAND — An Oregon woman who vanished two years ago after a Fourth of July parade was likely killed, and her boyfriend at the time is the prime suspect, police said Thursday.
Detective Eric Henderson of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said investigators believe Stephanie Warner is dead and they want boyfriend Lennie Ames to lead them to the remains.
“An arrest is going to be made with or without his help,” Henderson said. “It comes down to: Is he going to assist, and take us to where she’s at? Or are we just going to make an arrest, and that will be used against him — the fact he wasn’t cooperative.”
Warner, 45, was last seen during the annual parade in Ashland — 285 miles south of Portland. She previously lived in New Orleans and her mother in Louisiana reported her missing July 6, 2013.
Ames was considered a “person of interest” early in the investigation, but Thursday marked the first time investigators called him a suspect. Moreover, they said he’s the only suspect.
Henderson said statements provided by Ames early in the investigation were inconsistent, and he’s no longer cooperating with law enforcement.
“He was cooperative for a few weeks,” Henderson said. “Then I think when the pressure started being turned on a little bit — we started asking him tougher questions, did a search warrant of the house — that was the end.”
Ames, 62, has not been charged in the disappearance. He left Oregon in September 2013 and is believed to be in Florida. He does not have a listed phone number and could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Ames told detectives in 2013 that he and Warner left the parade together and headed north to the unincorporated community of Ruch, where Warner lived with her animals.
He said Warner dropped him off at Ruch Country Store and then left in her vehicle. Sheriff’s deputies found Warner’s green Nissan Xterra in her driveway. There were no signs of forced entry in the vehicle or her house.
Ames’ primary residence was a campsite on a mountain. He told investigators he paid a group of young men in a pickup to drive him from the general store to the campsite after Warner dropped him off, Henderson said.
As for a potential motive, Henderson said investigators learned the couple had been arguing that day.
Warner is described as 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 135 pounds with brown eyes and red hair.
She volunteered with a group that supplies firewood to poor people and formerly owned a restaurant called Magnolia Grill.
Ames has a warrant out for his arrest in an unrelated case of criminal trespassing and littering tied to his years of living at the campsite on federal land. Henderson said Ames accumulated a pile of trash 30 feet in diameter that still needs to be removed.
