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Hello and welcome to the true crime podcast beyond the ferns with your host Susie buckle up Things are about to get a little scary welcome to part three, the final chapter of the Malola Forest Killer. In the words of DJ Khaled, another one. I'm sorry for that. Anyway, so welcome back. I hope everyone enjoyed the first two episodes, and there's a lot more in store for you for this remaining one. If you're listening along, there's been so much information about Dayton and his past and everything that led up to the Jenny Smith murder. The last episode ended with me dropping a giant bomb and then deciding to flee the scene out of the room. And everyone's just staring like, what the hell just happened here? That was my intention. That was my way of saying, hey, you gotta tune in for part three. And if you're here. Thank you for coming back and thank you for listening. I am going to be getting to a resolution and it's a good one. I want you to know that the silver lining here is going to be as good as it could possibly be in a situation that is so awful. So let's get into it, buckle up, and here's episode three for y'all. Now, Dayton is the most likeliest of suspects concerning the Ginny Smith murder case. And detectives are close to 100 percent certain that Dayton did, in fact, murder Ginny Smith. However, they do need to turn over every stone. They need to dot their I's and cross their T's. Detectives knew there was a couple things they would need to prove to 100 percent say that Dayton was the perpetrator of the Jenny Smith murder. They first needed to confirm the blood at the scene being Jenny's, and specifically on the murder weapon itself. Jenny's blood was sent to the Oregon Crime Detection Lab, and they had processed the knife and it came back As being positive to Jenny's blood.. Her alcohol level was said to be less than 0. 01%, which means that Jenny probably had less than a drink of alcohol that night putting her way below the level of drunk. The last episode, I did mention that the truck received a search warrant, and they were able to find a lot of blood and fingerprints throughout it. One of the bloodstains found was under floor pads of his truck. That blood, interestingly enough, did not match neither Ginny's or Dayton's. Whose blood was it? Detectives wanted to cover all of their bases, so they did bring in Sherry and asked her if her or her child or anyone she knew of in Dayton's car at any point in time. And Sherry said not that she could remember, and she did not remember any accident like that happening. In addition, there was blood found on the sidewalk near the shop, the passenger side of the truck, and throughout the shop. The blood did not match Jenny's, and after the blood vials of Dayton's were examined, they did determine that was Dayton's blood. Are that he did have a wound on his hand that he claimed was that from a hacksaw, but if we're looking more at the sidewalk leading up to his shop, In the shop itself, the blood spatter looked like blood dripping from something. If his hand was, in fact, injured, then that would make sense as to why we're seeing blood from Dayden throughout his shop.. Okay, clearly I do not have a brain of a detective, nor a district attorney, nor really anything of the like, because Because I would have never thought to look into this matter. Although very unlikely, detectives still needed to rule out that Dayden wasn't in a situation where he was acting in self defense. Specifically that Ginny wasn't the one to first pull out the knife on Dayden and start this whole altercation. The injuries point to Dayton being the perpetrator and Ginny being the victim, but detectives still needed to make sure to see this theory through. Detectives paid Ginny's family a visit, and the family was very much cooperative with the investigation from the detectives. The last bit of information that detectives needed to solidify arresting Dayton was to identify that the truck they had in custody, was the one that Richard Bergio had mentioned seeing that night, fleeing the scene of the murder. They brought Richard Bergio back in to further evaluate the truck, and without hesitation, Richard Bergio said, yep, that's the one. If you really want to be sure, flip on the headlights, because there's an inoperable license plate light. And if you remember in the second episode, Richard was alluding to having a very difficult time jotting down the license plate number, because of how lowly lit it was. As luck would have it, when they turned on the headlights, it was very much inoperable. So with certainty from Richard and certainty from the knife not being one that was in Ginny's possession,, Detectives read Dayton his rights and informed him that he was being arrested for the murder of Ginny Smith So what did Dayton have to say to this? I feel like we should play a game of who wants to be a millionaire, A, B, C, or D. A, B, and C are answers that have some level of remorse for the horrific act he did against Jenny Smith. And D is, quote, I've got nothing to say. If you answer D, here's a million dollars, because Dayton had absolutely no remorse and just followed detectives to his jail cell. Dayden is in jail, and I promise you, I do realize that there is an elephant in the room, and that the elephant has been staring me down right in the eyes since beginning this episode. And I'm about ready to confront the elephant. And that is of the hunter at the end of episode 2. The one that found a human body. Let's go back to that. We have Everett Banyard, a local hunter in Oregon, and he just got to the Malola Forest. He's minding his business, like, guy just wants to go hunting. He's just trying to find that perfect buck. Aren't we all? I'm not. But, anyway, so he's there, he discovers his body, and he immediately calls in to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Department. The responding officer, Deputy Oxford, Meets with Everett, and he takes a quick statement from him in regards to finding the body. Everett is clearly upset and distraught at what he just saw. How could anyone not be? And since it was well into the evening, it was getting dark. They're losing light, they still need to go to the crime scene and get any information that they can. Banyard and Deputy Oxford take out two flashlights and begin their way into the forest. As they're making their way through the forest, the same odor that had an hour before greeted Banyard as he was walking, that same odor hit both of them in the face as they're walking through the forest Deputy Oxford shines his light down upon the area that Banyard is pointing at.. Beyond the ferns revealed the nude body. Oxford immediately calls in to report this information to Sergeant Sam Metzger of the Detective Division. Now due to the meandering paths and several paths taken in complete darkness, they knew that they'd have to lead people into this area. They couldn't just drop a pin and have them follow it. When detectives got to the crime scene and looked over it, Detective White suggested that there had been damage done to the ferns, and pieces of wood appeared to be old damage. The ferns covering the bodies appear to have been broken off, not cut, and the ends are jagged and rough. As they approached the body that was found, it was noted that the body was nude, and from the way the body was positioned in such a contorted way, it looked as if it had been tossed into the ferns. Being that it was late in the night, they waited until the morning, when there was a bit more light, to fully examine the body found. Medical examiner, George Coleman, analyzed the body and said that the nude body was almost mummified and appeared leathery and shiny. The skull bone was exposed, which revealed curly light brown hair and the victim's left foot was missing. It was severed just above the ankle. Now due to the obscurity of the finding, Law enforcement were unsure if the ankle had been removed from an animal or from the perpetrator. As the medical examiner is beginning to take a closer look and decided to start moving away more ferns and brush from the area of the body, they discovered another body. This nude body was in a fetal position. Now, unlike the first victim, both feet were missing, not just one, and the feet were found under the body. It came to the ultimate surprise that the coincidence pointed towards the act of a perpetrator, Not an animal. Although, in my opinion, the word is pretty interchangeable. Detective Merchato was working from the road's edge into the forest, making sure to search every single yard. They began to collect soil samples, pieces of red fiber cord, and some bottles near the scene. As they were collecting the items and putting them in bags for safekeeping, Detective Strohvent called out to Detective Machado that he had found yet another body. Body number three was found 15 feet north of the other two corpses this new body was resting against a tree in a supine position. An incision extended from the groin area up towards the sternum. The body had been eviscerated, cut open entirely. At this point, the amount of absolute animalistic behavior and the extent into which the body was found, Detective Machado ordered everyone to report to the parking lot law enforcement knew That they were in over their heads. One body would have been enough. But now they are at three bodies found. They advised a plan to continue to maintain the scene and have security work to block off the entrance to ensure no one enters into the Malola Forest Detectives Gillian, Mary March, and Strovic would work closer to the roadway while more personnel were called to help search the scene. At this point in the search, no details were given about the bodies found. And outside of the officers working the case, it was agreed upon to hold this information close to the chest. They knew if anything was leaked that soon newspaper and television reporters could easily make this case even more complicated than it already was, and also scare the small communities nearby with the findings. With such little information that they had, Those people in the community would surely be concerned for their lives. Each body that was found a 25 by 25 foot grid sectioned off. Each photographs were taken and labeled in the order in which they were found. Since the identities of the bodies were unidentified, each body would be labeled in the order found 5:00 PM the same day, deputy Robin Swanson of the Sheriff's Canine Unit arrived with a tracking dog named Colt. Cutie patootie. 15 minutes later, Colt came across body number four within 40 feet of body number three. Body number four was found resting like the other in a supine position. The rib cage was exposed and this body had been there significantly longer due to the amount of decomposition, almost entirely devoid of flesh and odorless. No clothes were found nearby. and long, unattached, reddish brown hair was found around the skull. 50 feet west of body. Number four was body number five. Some of the skull seemed to be skeletonized, Is that a word? Anyway. The skull seemed to be that of a skeleton, providing a fact that this body may have been there a slightly shorter amount of time than body number four. Face down in the ferns, the hands were bound behind the back, with what seemed to be a dog collar. So this was the only body that had been bound, which is interesting. The right foot had also been cut off or sawed off. At this point, the search was called off for the evening and investigators talked amongst themselves, trying to puzzle together any leads on who could have possibly done these acts to so many women. At this point in time. We're in the eighties and the green river killer was on the run. No one knew where he was, who he was. And he had done similar crimes to this one. He was known to leave bodies and outdoor areas like rivers. Hence the name. And forest. The Seattle task force was notified of the Malola forest killer being intertwined with the Green River killer. They shared this information between departments at the chance that they could have been at the hands of this killer. Investigators were desperate for a lead to point them in any direction closer to a concrete suspect. The following morning, 70 Clackamas County Sheriff's Department and Sheriff Reserves headed to search the crime scene area to see if there were any more bodies. Now, medical examiners and investigators from the District Attorney's Office arrived to the site as well. The searchers were exploring through the area's hills and repelling the cliffs high and low.. Since law enforcement had little to go off of at this point in the investigation, the details of the findings were kept secret. Also, they were hesitant to share, to prevent individuals from coming forward with known facts attesting to fake confessions.'cause we know how people are. However, since the missing persons in Clackamas County were small, Portland Police Bureau and Multnomah County Sheriff's Department was notified of the bodies. As the bodies are being closely evaluated at the scene by the medical examiner Karen Gunson, Turner caught a glimpse of something in the corner of his eye, amongst the brush. A miniature Smirnoff vodka bottle, barely visible in the ferns. He was elated by this discovery, and cautious to not get ahead of himself. Detective Turner motioned to Detective Gillian to come down to the scene. Now, the miniature bottles were everywhere. They were all over the scene. Turner requested that every bottle be taken into custody. This lead was monumental. If we remember from earlier, Dayton was spoken to having only bought this kind of liquor And even more so, Detective Turner knew this because he had spoken to Maxine, who worked at a local liquor shop, and had helped Dayton on multiple occasions. Turner delighted in the possibility of having yet another suspect and getting closer to cracking the case. Machado and Turner continued their search, conversing about findings and the investigation. Then Turner shared having spoken to Maxine from a liquor store, That Dayden frequented.. Whether it was the fact that Jenny Smith was in Turner's head, still working on tying up this case, or Turner had a gut feeling that Dayden had something to do with this. The search and rescue team hadn't turned up any bodies this day, which was a bittersweet thing to law enforcement. Partially because no more bodies meant no more lives lost, families having to bear the weight of a loved one being brutally murdered. But this also meant that perhaps there were more, and they hadn't found them yet. The hope dwindled when Detective Machado and Detective Turner were invaded by a pungent odor. They followed the smell, knowing what they were about to uncover. The odor got stronger in smell and emanated from the area that had not been searched yet. About 30 feet off the road in a heavily wooded area that led to a cliff's edge was body number six. A skeleton with some rib bones and victim's hair intact. The torso and legs were not with the body. Perhaps a portion of the body had been disturbed by animal presence. Little farther down the road, they gained access to an animal trail. They followed the same pungent scent to yet another body. Number seven. Even though this body was also skeleton like, It presented that it had been there for longer than the others. It was in a state of decomposition more than body number six. This one had obvious stab wounds in the chest and evidence of animal chewing. Banyard, the deer hunter, who discovered the first body and notified law enforcement, was asked several follow up questions, because remember, although an unlikely suspect, they have to follow up on everything. He shared that he knew of the Malola Forest and had hunted these areas often over the past few years. Strovic pressed him further, asking if he saw anything unusual any of the times he was out in this area. And Banyard said that there were quite a few people that came to Malola. But at one point he did notice a blue Datsun pickup truck. He stopped down the road and saw a flock of pigeons fly abruptly into the area. He didn't know if he was releasing something or what happened. detectives figured that the person releasing bodies could have scared the pigeons, which made them fly away. Detective Strovic asked if he would know the male subject if he saw him again, if he'd be able to identify him. Banyard said he wouldn't know. He just didn't know. Couldn't remember enough about what he looked like, but he did know he wasn't a big guy and he was a male. On September 3rd, a few days after the Malola discovery, news broke publicly. Calls began to flood in from various agencies and citizens. Thousands upon thousands of claims and information and missing person follow ups were taken down, three binders full. Due to the large scale of this case, the task force was asked to keep the details of the case within the department to minimize interruptions while they sifted through the evidence. It was evident to detectives that Dayton was definitely a prime subject in the Malola Forest murders. Although they were focusing on Dayton as the main suspect, detectives hoped that releasing this information would lead to more tips from the public. They were looking for specific information such as whether anyone noticed anything strange or heard anything related to the case. This led to an influx of valuable leads and information about Dayton. One by one, detectives Machado and detective Turner met with people coming in that they felt held valuable information towards the case. And a lot of the people that called in were sex workers, sharing identical stories of their own experience with the man in the blue Nissan truck. Their stories all had the same plot and typically the same narrative. He would meet the girl, introduce himself as Steve, the date seemed harmless at first, and the person inside the truck seemed friendly. If he had went with a woman a few times prior, he would build that trust, and by the third date, most agreed to the bondage. Sometimes he would have sex with them, sometimes he would just masturbate. Nearly 50 sex workers came forward to share their experiences and insights. Some provided details about the color and make of his truck, the type of alcohol he drank, which was Smirnoff and orange juice, his foot fetishes, and violent altercations that often involved biting, stabbing, and cutting wounds to the breast and buttocks. Leaving these women in a terrible state and often stranded and left to find their own way home. 26 of the women had personal experiences that strongly match the patterns of his crimes. And these could be used with information to connect Dayton to the victims of the Malola Forest. Another sex worker called in by the name of Beth, and she had a story that was similar to the other victims. In November 1986, a few months before Tracy and Heather, Beth was picked up by a light blue Nissan. He took her to the Malola forest. He claimed his name was Steve and that he was from Reno. He offered information to Beth about how his sister had molested him as a child. Then he pulled little miniature bottles of vodka and orange juice out. And then he pulled out a gun from the glove box stating that he hated women because of what his sister had done to him. Then he began tying her up and biting into her foot so hard, along with her breast. After three to four hours of this torturous act, where he was mainly biting and masturbating, he left Beth outside of the truck. He removed the bondage and tossed the wire into the brush. He threw her clothes at her outside of the pickup and walked over to her. As she's limp and brutalized, stating, I hope you die here, and left. She identified him quickly after the law enforcement agents showed her a picture. Flooding of more calls came in from other sex workers, nearly 50, who claimed to have been victimized by Dayton Rogers. They had a similar story of being bitten and cut by him, and nearly all claimed to have seen Dayton mix a screwdriver concoction by using miniature bottles of Smirnoff and orange juice. However, there was merely no rhyme or reason why some victims were freed and other lives were lost. That would ultimately remain a question to detectives all these years. And it never really got answered. back near the crime scene, everyone was going about their jobs to properly label evidence to later take in for further evaluation. When Travis, a log truck driver, spoke with Detective Machado about the incident that occurred only four miles from where they were standing. Does that sound familiar? He was the logging truck driver that had picked up Heather Brown from the ground during her incident. She informed him of the man driving the Nissan pickup and his intentions to kill her. Detective Machado walked over to Detective Turner and shared this information, not knowing if he knew much about what Travis was speaking to. Detective Turner said this did ring a bell, and he remembered the name Heather Brown, and that she was picked up near Union Avenue in Portland. Since this would be a powerful lead to pinpointing Dayton in the Malola Forest area, Machado and Turner followed up on this. They met with Travis and showed him a picture of Heather. Without hesitation, he said, Yep, that's her. Detectives displayed six men's photos in front of Travis, and he looked over all of the pictures and said, quote, I don't think it's any of them. I'm pretty sure that the driver of the pickup is not any of these pictures. However, he kept glancing over to photo number three, that of Dayton Rogers. Due to not being a hundred percent certain and not getting the clearest of glances at Dayton and what he looked like, he couldn't say for certain still. And I don't blame Travis here. I think you need to be a hundred percent certain, and if you're not and you don't exactly know, oh, yeah, that's the guy, then it's fair to say, I don't know. After showing Travis Dayton's Nissan truck, he said, quote, I can't claim to the license plate, but that's the color I saw. It was a real nice pickup like this one. The bodies have brought in four autopsies, and I'm going to go through each body and the varying degrees of wounds on each. Body number one, the autopsy revealed it was a Caucasian female, teens to early 20s. The left foot had been sawed off about 80%. There is defects in the posterior trunk, which looked like probable stab wounds. Body number two was a Caucasian female, likely in her early 20s. Multiple tool marks, which could have been related to that of a saw. on the posterior lateral surface of the left femur. Both feet had been cut off about six inches above the heel. The victim had several tattoos. Body number three, Caucasian female, late twenties to early thirties, had been eviscerated. Cut from the pubic bone to the sternum. The cut reached the underlining muscles and tissue. The areola of the nipple was removed. The cut of the pubic bone to the sternum would have been a horrible death to endure if that's how she was killed. It wasn't noted if it was post mortem due to how long the bodies were decomposing. Body number four, Caucasian female, late twenties to early thirties, vertical lumbar cuts made across the lumbar region of the back. The cause of death was likely to the stab wounds of the posterior trunk. Number five, Caucasian female. Likely in her early to mid 30s, several teeth were missing, which seemed to have occurred prior to her death. Right foot had been severed above the ankle. Unlike the other victims, her hands were bound by what seemed to be a dog collar. There were irregular defects of the victim's back and right buttocks. Several markings of a knife were up to an inch deep across her posterior flank region. Now body numbers six and seven were more difficult due to the decomposition. The remains had been scattered in a way that was hard to identify what went to which body. As you can remember, there was some left in one area and there was body parts found in another. So they did as best as they could to identify. Body number six belonged to a female, 20 to 32 years old. Mixed racial ethnicity, such as Native American or Asian, The two top teeth were rotated inward and left was chipped. There were tool markings on the ankle region, but the feet were intact. It seemed for whatever reason the killer had decided to give up on sawing through the ankles. Body number seven was a Caucasian female, probably in her 30s. No markings were found on the legs, but unfortunately, animals had disturbed the body. Several stab wounds to the posterior trunk had been thought to have been the cause of her death. Four of the bodies were said to have been at the Malola Forest for one to three months. The others had been there for much longer. Since they all were exposed to the elements, sunshine, rain, animals, it was hard to note the duration for the others. Four of these bodies, the fingerprints were enough intact to be taken in for further testing, and those victims also had a great deal of dental work done, which would be a major help with identifying. Since the medical examiner could not be positively certain the cause of death for any of them, there was one thing they could know of the injuries. All of the cuts seemed to be consistent with a single edged knife blade, about half to five eighths inch, which were consistent with that of a knife used of the attack of Jenny Smith by the hands of Dayton Rogers. Now, remember, the Green River Killer was a potential suspect in the Malola Forest murders, due to this person being out on the run doing similar acts. However, after analyzing the Green River Killer victims alongside the Malola Forest Killer victims, it was obvious to investigators this killer had nothing to do with these murders. The autopsy showed valuable information and it was acknowledged that the Malola Forest victims were significantly different from Green River victims because throughout the 1980s, the Green River killer had murdered many teenage girls. At the end of actually 1990, if we're going to the future, it would have been up to about 70. A few things that did differentiate the two killers was the Green River Killer was known to return to the scene and engage in necrophilia with their bodies, oftentimes leaving gum, cigarettes, and ridden materials. The Green River Killer did the murders in Washington, all of them, but would sometimes drive victims over Oregon lines to confuse police, all to say the crimes were different and that would rule out the Green River Killer that would rule out these killers as being one in the same. On September 5th, with the help of Portland Police Bureau, they were able to locate Heather Brown. Now, Heather Brown agreed to share anything she could remember about her time with Dayton. Heather explained that there wasn't anything unusual at first about him. In his truck, she saw he had some vodka, the little miniature ones you get while on an airplane. Quote, he told me he was from Las Vegas, that he was a gigolo, and that he liked to tie women up. He also said he had a foot fetish. While they were driving and Heather was getting suspicious, Dayden began talking about how he liked to take a lot of girls up here. In the woods. He said he wasn't married and didn't have any kids. Joke's on you, you have a whole family. After displaying photos of possible suspects, Heather pointed to that of Dayden Rogers. Saying, quote, that's him, that knows, I remember that knows. I also looked at this guy's schnoz, and although it's, like, not the best, I also don't see how people think it's so repulsive. Go take a look at it. Investigation was the result of extensive teamwork and non stop effort. The Clackamas Sheriff's Department and Portland Police Bureau worked diligently, sharing, comparing notes, and they discovered many similarities in their cases, from the methods of torture inflicted on the women, the materials used to tie up victims, the weapons used, the injuries, to the places he took the women to. Dayton rarely deviated from his tried and true tactics. For indicating that it was obviously the same perpetrator across the board. The search and rescue team made a significant discovery, finding 500 items of evidence, including women's undergarments, miniature Smirnoff vodka bottles, and the most incriminating evidence of all, a kitchen knife identical to the one found at the Jenny Smith crime scene. Boom. The miniature bottles were also in various states of decomposition. Some looked almost brand new while others were older and affected by the elements, which just goes to show that it happened over a great duration of time. Detectives were looking into missing persons reports, especially ones that had been identified being recently missing. In late August, Lisa Mock had been with the Portland Police Bureau's Missing Persons Unit for a month, with very few leads on her whereabouts. Her father, James Holden, spoke to detectives and shared information about Lisa's life. Lisa and her family had lived in California when she began involved with drugs at the age of 16. She lived a transient lifestyle, which eventually led her to Oregon, where she met a man named William.. They married in 1986. Holden explained that he drove to Oregon, found Lisa, and brought her back to California. After three days, she left, but she did end up beginning a drug rehabilitation program in San Francisco. This was Holden's way of trying to get her off the streets and get her clean. She did end up getting a job as a secretary and getting her own apartment, seemingly starting to pull her life together. Everything seemed to be looking up. However, Lisa's new lifestyle quickly turned back to drug involvement, and she made her way back to Portland. Two days before her disappearance, Lisa called her father on July 21st, saying that she was trying to get her life together, and would call him back soon. But just two days later, she went missing after being seen leaving the Continental Hotel with three men. Holden found it especially odd that she did not show up to the August 20th court hearing, which was going to offer her 25, 000 of inheritance money for a close relative who had recently passed away. Having that she didn't go to court that day, he ended up turning in the information to the authorities. Lisa was a suspect and on the detective's radar due to her lifestyle and the timing of her disappearance. On September 7th, Lisa Marie Mock was identified as body number two due to a missing person's report that indicated had several distinguishable tattoos matching the ones found on the body in the forest. Additionally, Lisa's dental work helped positively identify her as body number two. According to the report, Lisa had contacted her grandma before she disappeared. Detectives were able to track down her grandma and speak with her, hoping to gain clarity on any information that could paint a clearer picture of her situation. Lisa called her grandma the evening she went missing Okay, so this is really sad. She explained that she was going through an abusive situation with her husband and needed to go to a center that could help her. She seemed scattered and under the influence on the phone despite her grandma's attempts to get her more information, Lisa did not elaborate. Sadly, that was the last time they would hear from her. After Lisa was identified and numerous bodies were found that could not be identified, detectives knew they had to work quickly to identify the others On September 11th, Detective Machado went through a packet of missing person reports provided by the Portland Police Bureau. One name stood out to them, Maureen Hodges. She went by Moe. Moe had suffered a broken nose when she was younger, which would match body number seven, because that nose was slightly deviated to the right, which would have been caused a result of an old injury Around the same time, Moe was 26 years old and disappeared under mysterious circumstances. She had brown hair, hazel eyes, two tattoos on her arms and chest, and a slightly crooked nose from a previous injury. Before her disappearance, she was living at the Fairfield Motel with her boyfriend Tim. When they first got together, Tim was unaware of MO'S involvement in sex work and her drug addiction. One day he caught her taking drugs in the bathroom, which led MO to confessing about her involvement in sex work. Tim was initially shocked, but decided to support her and help her to stop using drugs. He used his own money to help her, and gradually Mo began reducing the amount of drugs she took. Many believed she was on her way to a sober lifestyle. Although Tim seemed to be the supportive boyfriend type, I'm not sure if we love Tim. On July 8th, Mo came home with clothes she had bought for Tim. Tim was angry, yelling that since the money was hers, the money was dirty. Alluding to the fact that she had bought this with the money she had earned while sex working. Angry herself at Tim's inability to see her kind gesture for what it was, Mo walked out of the hotel at noon. Never to return. Tim carried on and he one day was riding a bus and saw her from the window on 82nd Avenue. Tim got off the bus and ran up to plead with her to come home. But Moe had already climbed into a blue Nissan truck. That was the last time she was seen. Moe's mother, Irene James, explained the last communication she had with her daughter was a letter that Maureen left on the front door before Thanksgiving, which was ten months earlier. This is really sad. The letter stated, quote, I'm safe and warm and all right. I'm starting to get it together. I have good friends that are helping me, not junkies. I'm not saying this just to make you feel better. It's for real. I'll call you sometime soon. I do love you. P. S. A lot has happened, but I'm okay and I'm out of trouble. Now that a couple people were starting to become identified with those bodies found in the Malola forest, detectives were starting to uncover more leads related to missing persons cases around the same time. One of the missing persons was. Retha Marie Giles, a 16 year old girl who had been missing since July 21st. The last known sighting of her was at her home in Estacada, a nearby small town. On July 29th, Deputy John Johanneson visited Retha's home in the hopes of gathering more information from her family. Her family mentioned that they hadn't seen or heard from Retha for a week and wanted to report her missing. Retha, who also went by Leslie, had told her family that she was going to take a bus to visit a friend. Her sister, Wanda, explained that she had dropped out of Marshall High School in April and had befriended some girls who had pressured her to make money quickly.. Wanda said, quote, No one wanted to wait two weeks for a paycheck. She started turning tricks for fast cash. I told her to get a job, but she wouldn't listen. She just wanted to party. Reitha started frequenting the 82nd Avenue block, and Wanda mentioned that she was shocked by Reitha's actions, but Reitha had expressed that she liked the money and clothes and didn't use drugs. Retha was known to have a kind of nature and a caring attitude towards others. She had thick, shoulder length brown hair and blue eyes and walked with a slight limp due to a congenial dislocated hip. The extensive surgery she had undergone left her with multiple scars on both legs. On September 11th, four days after Lisa's body was identified, body number seven was positively identified as Maureen Ann Hodges. Her identity was confirmed through a deviated nose indicating a previous nose injury and dental records. No, I'm sorry. I have to go back to this jerk off, but I did want to give a little update about Dayton at this moment in time. Detectives Machado and Strobic arrived at Clackamas county jail, where Dayton was being held. Let's little hope he would speak to the Malala forest crimes. Having not open the style log between data and yet with no attorney present. Detectives weren't banking on Dayton's participation. Immediately upon seeing the two detectives. Dayton said, quote. Oh, wait a minute. Are you guys police? And soon after that quote, I don't want to talk to you. Further pressing date and as to why he was not deciding to speak with them. Dayton said his attorney advised him not to, and he did not want to talk with them. Under the law they knew any further pressing would be in violation of his rights. And I knew they had to resign themselves for the day. AKA Dayton's a little bitch. Moving back onto identifications of the bodies on September 21st, detective Turner received a call from the medical examiners office stating that body number five was positively. Identified as Christine Lotus. She was reported to be missing by her friend, Darla. Now, this is the saddest quotes I'm going to read. Probably this whole episode Quote, we were a team. No one realizes what life is like out there on the street. You find someone good and you hold on to them. That was me and Christine. We hung on to each other. We shared the same corner. Christine was fun-loving and a little crazy at times she was like, all of us here. She dreamed of meeting a nice man and getting married some day. And we worked the streets to pay the bills and to get things for our kids. Backstory about Christine as she was born and raised in Portland and was one of five kids. She dropped out of school and the 10th grade and got married. She became pregnant soon after. She was married a few times thereafter and had a couple more kids and she began sex working at age 20 to support them. Darla. Eludes to their life on the street. Stating quote, every night we went out there, you would be afraid. Both of us have been raped and beaten by John's. But it was all we knew. So we kept working the corner. It wasn't unusual for one of us to take off for awhile. I figured she was out of town. But then the months went by and I never heard from her. She never got in touch with her kids or with me. Then I started to worry. When those bodies were found, I really started to worry. I prepared myself for the fact that she could be dead. But when I learned she was gone, I felt like someone had hit me in the chest. There was another tip that came in that could hold some merit. I'm kind of up in the air about it, but since I want to be objective to the case and share different theories or thoughts about a case, I'm going to bring it up. Mel Crouch called into the tip line and left a message. And she mentioned that Dayden regularly visited her house. To meet with her roommate Tommy Parker. Dayden was said to grow up With Tommy Parker and they went to the Seventh Day Adventist school together as teens. They talked on and off throughout the years and were said to have carried a sexual relationship with one another. Mel further said that she wasn't calling in about this to explain their relationship, but it was only because she had a suspicion about Dayton being involved in murdering a black female sex worker near where she lived. As Dayton is visiting Tommy, the next morning a body was found. In a vacant lot near their home. And this was around the month of February 1987. Around the time all these attacks would have happened. Shortly after the body was found, Mel heard two men talking. And saw a car and a light blue pickup outside of their house down the street. Then shortly after, Dayton came by and knocked on the door to see Tommy. However, Tommy was gone, not expecting Dayton's visit at all, and Dayton sat down for a few minutes and talked with Mel, nothing of any importance, and then left. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary for Dayton to converse without Tommy there, he was just sociable with her, it seemed odd of the body turning up and Dayden being within that location, knowing the information we have now.. Mel said quote. It just seemed like Dayden and Tommy were carrying on something they'd been doing for years. Sort of like an outlet, maybe. I think Dayton's got a lot of guilt going on about his gay activities, and if he disliked women underneath all that, well, that can get pretty violent. My thing is, is this is the 80s it was difficult to be anything but straight back in that day and age. I could see how Dayden did feel guilt around it. He is a unique person and a very awful human being. So it could have been that he did take that shame and turn it into being a full blown murderer. However, it's just hard to tell. It's hard to be sure, you know, what the facts are here. So could have Dayden been gay, but he married Sherry to cover this fact for convenience. Was he having a harder time coming to terms with his sexuality? That time in history, even more so, was something that would have been ripped apart. That would have not been accepted or appreciated or anything. Detective Strovic was able to speak with Tommy Parker. When they sat down for an interview, Parker was less than thrilled. He felt that detectives were prying into his personal life and into his relationship with Dayton. However, he did calm down and he was able to provide some important information about their relationship. Tommy Parker stated that him and Dayton met when they were attending seventh day Adventist school. They were very young, and were in communication quite a bit. Between the years of 1964 to 1969 was when they were consistently intertwined with each other. However, between the years of 1969 to 1975, it turned into more of a, I'll see you when I'm in town kind of thing. Parker alluded to the fact that Dayton and him carried a relationship on even up to his wedding. Tommy was his best man for his wedding and the day before the wedding they had sex. They took some risque pictures together and Tommy found it very odd that Dayden shared those photos with Sherry. He thought that he got off kind of to the idea of Sherry seeing the photos and her reaction. Now Parker said he even visited him in Oregon Correctional Facility.. This is where Dayton stated that he had a relationship with several inmates at the time. Tommy said that Dayton was very secretive and very to himself. A lot of times he had no idea what he was thinking. He even mentioned at one point that Dayden said, I wish we would have carried out our relationship. It could have saved me from marrying my first wife and having any relationship with women. Tommy believed that Dayden was using Sherry as a cover. And ultimately, he needed acceptance from his community and of his family. And so he decided to lead a quote unquote straight life. Detectives were starting to get well rounded evidence here, and they really wanted to look into Dayton's serial killer behavior. What did this look like? Because every serial killer has their own pattern of killing. They first were able to look at the crimes. And the crime side by side. These victims in the Malola Forest, and the victim of Jenny Smith. Detectives were shown very quickly that he chose victims that were sex workers. That he eventually demanded they would take part in bondage. Then he would torture them. The act was always sexual in nature. It always ended in mutilation and murder. He would start in a fantasy state, and then his mind would ramp up to violence. His mood elevated,, it would turn into destructive, horrific acts. He would then take souvenirs from the victims. Jewelry, shoes, clothing. But he could never get enough. He always needed more people to inflict pain upon for his sexual desires. So it didn't stop. He always, like an itch, had a need to find his fix. When we see the bodies and how they were left, it's noted that Data never placed victims in suggested ways. And didn't seem to care if he was known to have committed a crime or take credit for anything. If you see with a lot of other murderers, you'll see that they want the satisfaction of people knowing that they did it. And that wasn't the case here. Dayton was oddly in between. He took them to a secluded location and put their bodies in an area that wasn't trafficked by anyone. However, he didn't really hide them well. He thought that the elements of nature would dispose of them in due time. Not thinking through every single detail, leaving room for error such as a hunter coming through. Now I do want to list the book that I've been using for the majority of my research, and that is Bloodlust by Gary King. In that book, quote, Dayden had no sense of remorse, and conceded that it was possible that Dayden thought he was doing mankind a service by ridding them of street whores. He held a deep seated hatred towards women. From the interviews witnessed, Dayden's blood seemed to boil when he observed women openly prostituting themselves for money. And I agree with this. I think for Dayden it was these women We're low on the totem pole, and if we're looking back at his father, his father said no sex before marriage. Women are HOEs, right? So, I think Dayden saw that as the ultimate act, and although he had sexual desires and wanted to essentially see those through, It also ended with murder, and I don't think that's a coincidence why these vulnerable individuals had that happen to them. Dayton also showed compulsion. He was very compulsive. Remember, his shop was so clean. That wasn't a matter of cleaning up victim's evidence. I mean, it could be to a slight degree. But it was a spotless environment that he took upon himself to clean daily. This was something he could also control.. Detective Turner explained that Dayton possessed traits of both the organized and disorganized offender. Disorganized offenders commit acts closer to their home, and normally they don't try to cover up anything. He may have ventured off to the Malolo Forest, but he always picked up victims at the same area of Portland. He also didn't clean up the crime scene very well, and left plenty of evidence behind. on October 7th, Clackamas County Grand Jury indicted Dayton Rogers for charges of aggravated murder with Ginny Smith. Yaaay! The crowd goes wild. This was on the basis of rape, kidnapping, sexual abuse, and torture. It was said that Dayton did this to merely take eyes off the killings he had committed in the Malola Forest. And I agree. Most definitely. A conviction of aggravated murder held the weight of life in prison or death.. Now, Dayton pleads not guilty. I want to prepare everyone as to why he says he's not guilty. Let's take a pause in unity for our anger and frustration here. Okay. Ugh. Did I mention I absolutely despise Dayton? Because I truly do. Thank you. Anyway, he claimed not guilty because of self defense. He hired Oregon City Attorney Arthur Naas to represent him, and Dayton was held without bail until the trial began. District Attorney of Clackamas County, James O'Leary, announced that both cases would be assigned to Chief Deputy Andy Agleitis. He was a prosecutor that was known to be tough, respected, and highly knowledgeable. This kind of case was his forte, and he excelled, they would be going for the death sentence. In early October, a call came in with a tip for one of the remaining unidentified bodies, Nondes K. Cervantes, Noni, 26 years old, and detectives were able to track down a relative who claimed that they had not seen Noni for at least two to three months. The last time she was seen was July 24th in a downtown hotel she was living at during the time. She was dealing with a strong drug addiction, but the relatives wasn't sure if she had started sex working. According to a relative, Noni was into rock groups and those sort of things. She had such beautiful features and could have been a model. Noni had surgery on her left jaw area, and since the victim's unique details were mentioned on the news, this is why the relatives thought it was a strong correlation to them not seeing her and this body having that identifiable characteristic. She was determined as a match with that of Noni and was the first victim that was identified through fingerprinting. testing. She was body number three. Sadly, she was the body that was eviscerated and brutalized the most out of any other. She had a knife inserted into her vagina and she was cut from there up through her abdomen. A second search warrant was done on Dayton's truck. It was brought into custody again. And another search warrant was conducted. Since the first search warrant was to identify anything related to Jenny Smith's case, the second search warrant would hone in on the obvious findings of the Malola Forest murders, and be specifically in relation to that case. Numerous blood samples were taken from the scene along with elastic cords and ropes. Soil samples were taken off the wheel wells, hair and fiber samples were obtained through vacuum sweepings. Law enforcement also attempted to have the yellow Mustang searched, the one that he had picked up anibutinin in, but since that car had went through another set of owner's hands, they figured that too much time would have passed by and it was doubtful anything would come up from the search, but I got to give it to them. They covered all of their bases. Even if nothing came of it. The case was quiet for a couple months, as detectives continued to build a strong case against Dayton. Until a call came in on December 28th. Concerned citizen identified himself as Clifford Shirley, a longtime friend of Dayton's. This is where things get crazy. Clifford confessed that Dayton's wife had been told that Dayton had confessed to his mother and sister that he was responsible for the murder of Janice Smith and the Malola murders. So basically, it's a ton of hearsay here. Dayton's sister Connie had also questioned Dayton of any involvement, but Dayton denied. Detectives arrived to Connie's residency, hoping she would share what she knew or didn't know. And when they arrived, Connie said, I like cops. I really do. I appreciate that you're trying to accomplish this, but I don't want to talk to you. I'm sure you can appreciate the position I'm in. A few days later,, Connie called Clifford stating that she was advised by legal counsel to not say anything about Dayton in this case. She mentioned that she's already said too much, denied having said that Dayton was tied to any confessions concerning Jennifer Smith or the Malola Forest murderers. AKA Connie was pretty much useless here. At the beginning of the new year, on January 15th, 1988, dental records came back positive for body number four. This body was identified as Cynthia Diana DeVore. Some information about Cynthia was she was referred to as Dee Dee. She grew up on the streets with a mother who was an alcoholic and she did not know about her father. This was a volatile time for Dee Dee because when she was growing up, And her mother was unable to provide or take care of her. The Children's Services Division took her out of this environment and placed her in a series of foster homes. Her life did seem hopeful though, having been adopted at the age of 11 to a happy family. Her grades were good and she started to become friends with a lot of new people. But then she started hanging out with the wrong crowd. She began experimenting with drugs and took to the streets. For She was in and out of rehabilitation centers, and at the age of 19, she got pregnant and decided to keep the child. She turned to sex working to take care of her child and kept up with her addiction. She was friends with Tracy Baxter, who is one of the victims by Dayton, and Tracy warned her from her own personal experience to never take a ride from someone in a blue Nissan truck. But then when Dee Dee vanished, most figured she was living the transient lifestyle, so they didn't report her missing. Detectives were still compiling their information, and they needed a really good witness. Someone that knew Dayton's day to day movements and personality. That would be none other than his wife, Sherry. Unsurprisingly, when you find out your husband is a full blown sociopath, it's a little hard to muster and navigate. And, you know, possibly free up information about. Detective Estes was a woman detective, and they thought that being a woman detective, they could use her to speak with Sherry, to offer some encouragement, to get her to open up, share anything she knew that could be helpful for authorities. Estes explained that she understood her hesitancy about opening up, that the task force had seven homicides, and there could be even more. It would be Sherry's utmost importance to confide in law enforcement and share what she knew. Sherry, although still somewhat withdrawn and hesitant to share anything,, she started slowly to open up She said that she found a bag containing jewelry inside Dayton's pickup truck two weeks prior to August 7th. The jewelry was not recognizable to her. It wasn't hers. And she explained she wasn't one to search Dayton's truck, but she had helped him load some of Dayton's business supplies into her car and needed to transfer those items to his truck before the night was over. Like anyone presented with the opportunity to snoop on their creepy ass husband, she did. Two paper bags were found on the floor inside the pickup and one contained a multitude of jewelry. She found a flashlight and two containers of liquor. She took the paper bag into the house, although hesitant to look further in it with the possibility of getting caught, she decided she would see what was in the bag. So she went into the bathroom and poured out the contents onto the counter. And before she was able to closely look at them, Dayden walked into the bathroom.,, Sherry boldly asked where he had gotten all this jewelry. Dayton said he found it in the trash. He grabbed the bag, and that was the end of it. It was never brought up again. Detectives asked if she ever saw blood on Dayton's clothing. Sherry said, no, never. They continued asking her if they ever owned a dog, alluding to the dog collar on one of the bodies in the forest. And Sherry mentioned they had a dog years ago.. When asked about Dayton being a drinker, Sherry said she suspected on one occasion that he had drank before they got married, but wasn't aware that he did any time. After that Sherry acknowledged knowing Tommy Parker stating, she knew that he had visited him, but it wasn't frequently. And Sherry said that he had never been violent with her and thought that they had good communication, but that changed over the last year. I wonder why. In 1987, Dayton had been going out more, and two months before he was arrested, she did notice he was exceedingly tired. But she wasn't sure why this was the case, just figured it was the late nights at the shop okay, who is ready for the trial? On February 4th, 1988, the trial was set. The door's opened a little before 9:00 AM and a huge line of people are waiting to be audienced this monumental hearing. Some are Jenny's family, others were Malala forest victims, families. But the majority were people from the community. Looking to experience one of the state's most sensational murder trials. Clackamas county circuit court, judge Patrick Gill row. Led the trial for the murder of Jennifer Smith. Dayton entered the courtroom accompanied by two armed deputies who walked on either side of him. He appeared. Calm and stoic. Because he's ready for his life to blow up. Deputy attorney Andy This address the jury with his opening statement. Jury was made up of five women and seven men. Uh, gliders, explain that data and murdered Jenny Smith, following a pattern he had played out in countless other instances with sex workers. He referred to data and being a vicious predator who killed for sexual thrills. And this kills me, but Dayton's attorney Arthur Naas during his opening statement, because mind you. How do you defend. This kind of person. Uh, but he has to that's his job. So he says to jurors,, he would not like his client either, but insisted that they decide whether Dayton's act was held to the level of a criminal act. That's what he wanted them to decide. Not that Dayton was wrong or right. But that it was. A criminal act. He furthermore stated. That data did kill Jenny. But it was on accident because he was defending himself. And that they were not in the courtroom to discuss date and sexual desires. Which I say that's a huge part of it. So, I don't know how he expects that. Not to be brought up ever, but I guess he's got to shoot his shot. This is extremely troubling. But NAS. Gave an awful claim. To what happened that night. Attorney NAS explained that Jenny had noticed$200 in Dayton's wallet when they stopped at a convenience store. And that it was in that moment that Jenny made a decision to Rob Dayton with a knife. But she was waiting for the right time to strike. And the perfect time arose when Dayton parked near the Denny's restaurant. That's when she took out a knife held it to his throat and demanded his wallet. Dayton refused and Jenny and him wrestled continuously for the knife. But during all this struggle, Jenny was killed by accident due to stabs from Dayton. Now the district attorney. Andy Akalaitis knew this was the stance that was coming their way. And he was more prepared for the audacious claim of self-defense.. In response one by one, he had witnesses approach the stand with their own personal experiences of torture and pain and toured by Dayton. Michael fielding also would describe the scene. He saw play out where Dayton ran from the scene the bloody knife in his Hand. And Richard Burgio would speak to following date and from the scene on a wild goose chase to collect his license plate number.. District attorney a gliding thought, the possibility that the juror believing that someone who was innocent would flee a scene like this was pretty slim. Dayden took the witness stand and explained his version of events from the morning of August 7th. We don't care. Anyway, he claimed to have given Ginny 40 for sex, and at that point he had bounded her up, but he had to go pee, so he left her in the truck. That is when she got out of her bindings, went to the glove box, and attacked him right when he got back into the truck. She put the knife up to his throat and demanded his wallet. She said, quote, do it or die. That's when they wrestled on the ground back and forth. And he stated that he was swinging his body around, just fighting to get away. Which is why the cuts were all over her like that. She eventually started running and he ran up to her, but that's when they lost their footing and tripped. The knife ended up stabbing into her as he fell on top of her. Which is why she was stabbed in her upper area. None of this makes sense. Medical examiner Karen Gunson went through each wound, explaining the severity of each while noting to the jurors that Jenny also sustained torture wounds on her breast, which weren't conclusive to the story they were trying to tell. Also defensive wounds were noted. So remember he clearly has like taken a knife to her breast and started to try to take off her nipple. If they're struggling on the ground, why would it be such a precise slice and to that general area? And that's what Karen Gunson was trying to explain here. After all the evidence was shown and things were clearly stated, I mean, the district attorney had so much evidence. It was apples and oranges compared to what Dayton's attorney could provide. Anthony Noss, trying to throw anything at a wall to have it stick, His closing argument was a statement, quote, I know you find my client's contacts with prostitutes vile and disgusting. You have no sympathy for my client. I know you don't like Mr. Rogers, and you don't like what he's done to these girls. He's not here for a popularity contest. If he was going to go out on one of those usual dates and torture and sexually abuse a woman, would he go? Would he go to the one of the few establishments in Clackamas County that open at one or two in the morning? I have no idea what he's getting at here, like, I'm confused by this statement, and so is Agleitis, because he argues in response to his statement, stating that he was claiming self defense in this case. Aglitus was like, Hey Nas, so, you actually claim self defense. This has nothing to do with what you're stating right now. Like, let me remind you of what you're trying to convey here. Very bizarre. And was he not claiming that? Was he claiming self defense to a naked, bleeding woman? Jenny's screams were screams of intense pain. How can a man chasing a naked woman, wounded and bleeding, be a claim of self defense? Snaps to eglitis. On February 20th, after 13 hours of deliberation, they convicted Dayton of aggravated murder. Being that they could not prove the self defense claim based on the evidence, it was now in the penalty phase. Death penalty was on the table. Judge Gilroy requested for the jury to ask themselves questions. Was the murder deliberate? Would Dayton pose a continuing threat to society? Anthony Nas, because he can't shut up, decided to conclude with his stance before the jury broke out, stating, We all knew he was a sick man. No one wants him released. I question whether Mr. Rogers even wants himself released. But do we kill him? Arguing against the death penalty in favor of life in prison. Jurors deliberated for four hours, and although one juror thought he should receive the death penalty for Jenny Smith, that person was eventually swayed to life in prison. Judge Gilroy granted his sentence immediately. Although this was life in prison, and a lot of people looking at this crime could see that as a win, Detective Turner and his colleagues were devastated. Their minds immediately went to the possibility of a life in prison sentence being one that could border the lines of eventually being on parole, which makes total sense. They had hoped that the Malola Forrest case would bring the death penalty, because remember, they have to try him on both. May 1988, he was undided on several charges of aggravated murder for Reitha Giles, Lisa Mock, Noni Cervantes, Cynthia DeVore, Christine Adams, and Maureen Hodges. One body they could not pin on him because it was still unidentified, but no fear, that will change. Dayton went with the plea of innocent, which is laughable, and decided to hire Christopher E. Burris as his attorney for this case. I'm sure he switched attorneys because Arthur the whole time is like, yeah, we all hate him. I'm sure that Dayden felt at this point he needed someone that could do maybe a better job at trying to defend him. Not really sure. Okay, so this is where we hit the absolute most badass part of the whole case, and that's on March 30th, 1989. Twelve jurors, all female, were selected. The universe was like, quote, Watch this, because now Dayton wasn't determining their fate. They were determining freaking his. Judge Raymond R. Badgley led the court and District Attorney Eglitis outlined his case to the jurors. He explained that a knife, identical to the one used in the Jennifer Smith murder, was present for the Malala murders. Witnesses came up to the stand to share their horrific stories. Some of which were Heather Brown, Tracy Baxter, Denise Raymond, Cindy Jones, and Anna Buchanan, to name a few. The wood stove and contents were also explained in great detail. As Roy Miller testified on behalf of the day in which he found the items. He cried twice while he was on the witness stand.. Bob Thompson, the Oregon State Police Criminology, who worked closely on the case, explained how he discovered and tested hairs in Dayton's car, and they were positively identified as matches to Lisa Mock, Noni Cervantes, And Cynthia DeVore. It was a trial filled with heightened emotions for the victims and their loved ones and all the women who had experienced the wrath and torturous efforts of Dayton. Eglitis had a closing statement that reminded the jurors about all the orange juice and liquor bottles found at the scene, stating, quote, There is a signature to a crime. Under those circumstances, you can look at this as the signature and see the identity of the killer. Evidence is the mark of Zorro. It is the signature. Not only committed these murders, but he might as well have written his name on the victim's corpse. After six hours of deliberation, the jury found Dayton guilty of aggravated murders on all counts. And for the first time in the trial, in response to the guilty verdict, Dayton put his head in his hands, crying and shakingly saying, repeating the words, no. And to that I say, not so stoic and calm are we now, Dayden. As we're going through the sentence, that still remained. He was guilty. However, now we had to decide whether he was guilty for a life imprisonment charge or for the death penalty. We continued on with more witnesses. James Huppy, a vocational instructor at Oregon State Correctional Institution, spoke in favor of Dayden, just in two years he had developed a mechanical trade and that he was highly skilled. He even selected Dayton to be an apprentice a few months before he was released. And James Miller, also a vocational instructor in prison, said that Dayton played table tennis and he also led the Seventh Day Adventist gatherings. And he was really surprised he was in prison to begin with, because he just seemed like a really happy go lucky guy. He didn't say happy go lucky, but he said he was surprised that Dayton was in prison, because Dayton seemed like a stand up inmate. Of course, the testimonies from James Huppy and James Miller were the result of an environment that was routine, with no connection to the outside world. Since Dayton did not have the opportunity to be outside of the four walls, he had no choice or chance to go seek out these victims. He didn't have the opportunity. And a psychologist, James Adams, there's so many James in this case, spoke to this, that particular circumstances where he was sexually aroused or intoxicated would drive these elevated behaviors. If he felt cheated or emotionally, sexually violent, He would have to find a vulnerable woman to take out these feelings on. The perfect recipe for that was going to seek sex worker services, where he had control over the situation. In prison, Adams stated that these factors would be dismal, and unavailable to him. Since there were only men in prison, he would not be a threat. However, I am really glad Okay, this is the fourth James. That James B. Cochran objected to this. He was a forensic psychologist at Oregon State Hospital. But he spoke to the fact that he would still pose a threat in prison. He said that if the relationship with Tommy Parker was accurate, and it seemed like it was, men were not to be removed entirely from the equation. It would be a matter of time before he would begin selecting male victims. And James Cochran was also assigned to the Green River Task Force. He explained that the very act of murder can be pleasurable to someone like Dayton, who had a sadistic connection and was sexually driven. Attorney Christopher Burris said that his client was a sick man, no dip, and still leaned on the life in prison as a potential option, not the death penalty. He referred to Dayton's good behavior in prison. And having no altercations with inmates during his sentences. Also, he mentioned that Dayton's murders and other crimes were not done in a deliberate state of mind. So he's claiming that Dayton essentially had no control over doing these horrific acts, to where I say bullshit. Both parties have stated their peace, and now we're moving on to the closing statement of Aeglitus. He said, quote, He can, in every respect, including his appearance, walk among you without giving any indication to the horrors that are within him. Rogers is a walking time bomb. He's an act of criminal violence looking for a place to happen. He's capable of fooling psychologist. He's capable of fooling psychiatrist. I hope to God he's not capable of fooling you. Mic drop. On June 7th, 1989, after more than 17 hours of deliberation, the jury voted that Dayton would be a threat to society, whether in prison or outside of prison. Judge Badgley sentenced Dayton to death by lethal injection. Detectives were obviously elated by the news in response to the verdict, Stating, quote, It was righteous justice. Righteous in the sense that an all female jury convicted him and decided his fate. I don't know about you, but I have full body chills. Ugh. Such a great end to the case. But is it over? So now, Dayton's on death row. And we know how the death row can go. I'm gonna give you a few updates of where this case is currently. The death penalty sentence was given in 1989. However, it never came to fruition. Rogers may have been convicted then, but over the past 30 years, he's been appealing after appealing after appealing his case multiple times. His last appeal was even in 2021. In 2015, he was even given the death sentence for a fourth time. His defense attorney said, if he was granted life in prison, they would waive all future appeals. They would be quiet. They would stop. Okay, I kept telling myself don't get on a soapbox, don't get on a soapbox, don't get on a soapbox. But here we are. Tap me in, coach. I'm ready to go. I personally am annoyed because Dayden says during all of these appeals that he realizes he should not be let out, that he should never see the outside. And should just be allowed to have his time in prison for the rest of his life. However, through all of this, I shouldn't be let out, I know that I'm a risk to society. He continues to put these families through several trials to relive traumas of their loved ones being brutally murdered. And so he keeps. opening up that wound each time he appeals. Because a lot of these families have followed the trials throughout the years. So that's my beef with Dayton, is just stop. Just stop. They don't get to have any say over the life that you took from them. However, you will not stop the subject of life in prison. As all of this is going on, you will 2013, the body that was unidentified of the moola forest killings, nearly 30 years later was finally identified. As Tanya Jerry Johnston, and they don't have a lot of information on her, but she was 18 years old at the time of her death, and she had arrived to Portland in the spring of 1987. As Dayton's trying so hard to appeal everything, he also decides to say, yep, killed her too. It's just extremely discouraging. It's nice, obviously, that her family has closure. But throughout all of this, he's still saying, Yep, I did that murder too. Sadly, Dayton and his attorney would get their wish. A new law was signed in by Governor Kate Brown, which limited the amount of aggravating factors required for seeking the death penalty. On December 13th, 2022, Governor Kate Brown Discontinued all of the current death sentences for everyone on Oregon's death row. To life without parole. Currently, Rogers is serving his time of life in prison at the Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla. He is 70 years old and he has been in prison for over 35 years. And to that I say, wowza, what a doozy, I hope everyone's okay, I may be unwell, this was a crazy case. It was filled with tremendous amounts of sadness and despair and loss. And, I am just so glad that everyone has tuned in for the ride. I hope to find a palate cleanser today because this is wild. This was a wild one. And I hope to bring you a new, fresh, exciting case next week. So I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week and tunes in for another creepy, creepy episode. Next Monday. Thank you. Bye.