Found Deceased OR - Owen Klinger, 18, University of Portland, 6 Oct 2019

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I was also wondering why we haven’t heard more from the Lacrosse Coach and team members? It seems very quiet for a team from a smaller private University? I would have expected to see something about the team searching or putting up flyers last weekend. Was he a team member at the time of his disappearance? Did they have tryouts and possibly he was cut from the team? I noticed the Coach did make a Facebook one time comment two days after Owen disappeared. This just seems odd to me?
 
I realize many 18year olds take risks that an older adult might avoid .... but unfortunately I don’t think OK simply skipped exams and took off for the rails without telling anyone — especially a week before break.

As others posted, if I went missing, my internet history would totally lead searchers astray.

I am concerned that this explanation might be more convenient than it is likely. IMO there really isn’t a satisfactory resolution.

Can TES or other resources get involved??
 
His poor parents. I'm a parent and this would destroy me.

But as a teen, I didn't take my parents' feelings or points of view into account very much. Not because I didn't love them - I think it's a brain maturation thing. An 18-year-old guy doesn't truly have the capacity to think ahead about consequences or realize what he's doing to his family. Especially if there's any depression involved; depression makes you think you're not important and no one will care if you disappear.

As for money - He did have other money in his room that was also gone, correct? So in total, he might have had several hundred dollars.

He's a middle child; the stereotype there is that he may have felt overlooked or that what he wanted wasn't as important as what other family members wanted. He went along to get along, maybe. And so it made sense for him to head out without telling anyone. He might be very good at hiding his feelings, wants or needs--because, right or not, he feels as if expressing them won't change anything--so it looks out of character for him to take off without telling anyone.

All speculation and MOO. I hope they find him soon.
 
Occam's Zebra said:
His poor parents. I'm a parent and this would destroy me.

But as a teen, I didn't take my parents' feelings or points of view into account very much. Not because I didn't love them - I think it's a brain maturation thing. An 18-year-old guy doesn't truly have the capacity to think ahead about consequences or realize what he's doing to his family. Especially if there's any depression involved; depression makes you think you're not important and no one will care if you disappear.

As for money - He did have other money in his room that was also gone, correct? So in total, he might have had several hundred dollars.

He's a middle child; the stereotype there is that he may have felt overlooked or that what he wanted wasn't as important as what other family members wanted. He went along to get along, maybe. And so it made sense for him to head out without telling anyone. He might be very good at hiding his feelings, wants or needs--because, right or not, he feels as if expressing them won't change anything--so it looks out of character for him to take off without telling anyone.

All speculation and MOO. I hope they find him soon.
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Your post is so spot on. It’s just heartbreaking how his parents do NOT want to believe he could have left and intentionally not contact them. I don’t blame them. As a parent, that would kill me. :(
 
Two environments where a young, curious 18yo should not show up alone with clean clothes and $150 (even tucked in your sock)
A) An area in a trainyard where riders gather to catch trains illegally.
B) An area where a dealer sells hand to hand. (House, bus stop, homeless tent.)

Good news is that if Owen is still safe physically. He has such a supportive family he could easily find a new college or career path. No stigma with all this media coverage. Don't burn your bridges by not contacting home, some day you may want that trust fund from family, or mom's home cooking.
 
Regarding evidence that phone was turned off/ not powered down. Train riding can leave you stranded pretty far from roads, towns. I believe some riders would take a turned off cell for the map features if needed in an emergency.
But a lot of waiting for trains/avoiding detection is being totally silent. Once on a train they are frequently searched by a few different means. Passing a tower with spotlights leaving the yard for instance. Owen may have not wanted any phone ringing at the wrong time while catching out or riding.
 
happyday said:
Your post is so spot on. It’s just heartbreaking how his parents do NOT want to believe he could have left and intentionally not contact them. I don’t blame them. As a parent, that would kill me. :(
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The roommate became concerned so very quickly, something like 4 hours after seeing Owen last. This leads me to believe Owen had parents and friends really paying close attention to him, hovering, scrutinizing. If this was a long term pattern i think it could lead an 18 year old to explore a more secretive aspect of themselves (sexual, narcotics, hitch-hiking/trains). Pure speculation, but i never pursued living dorms because i knew they'd police my comings and goings, even kick you out for smelling a little pot smoke. If Owens expectations of respect and privacy were not met, maybe he was carrying some resentment thus no call or letter explaining movements.
Edit: no fun in this dorm environment, Owen couldn't even have a 1 night stand (normal for college) and show up the next morning without family and police being notified. Just can't imagine him being pleased with this environment.
 
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I do think he left voluntarily for that night. I just do not agree that he intended to disappear. Even if you needed a break, a few days is plenty to get your point across and your family will not care if you want to drop out of school,; they just want to know you are ok. Just based on what we know about him and his family I think he would have made some form contact if he could. Just so his mom knew he was ok.

These days at college they really drill about watching out for each other and report if you think someone is in trouble. For suicide prevention, abuse etc. I think it is wonderful he had a roommate who cared! He knew something was wrong and he said something. That is not an invasion of privacy. If Owen didn’t want to be there then he needed to speak up. You don’t disappear and break everyone’s heart.

I think he is in trouble and I hope LE continues to look for him.
 
88GlavineRC said:
The roommate became concerned so very quickly, something like 4 hours after seeing Owen last. This leads me to believe Owen had parents and friends really paying close attention to him, hovering, scrutinizing. If this was a long term pattern i think it could lead an 18 year old to explore a more secretive aspect of themselves (sexual, narcotics, hitch-hiking/trains). Pure speculation, but i never pursued living dorms because i knew they'd police my comings and goings, even kick you out for smelling a little pot smoke. If Owens expectations of respect and privacy were not met, maybe he was carrying some resentment thus no call or letter explaining movements.
Edit: no fun in this dorm environment, Owen couldn't even have a 1 night stand (normal for college) and show up the next morning
Click to expand...

Out of character. That is the warning sign. Have a 1 night stand, just answer a text.
 
Bree1950 said:
I was also wondering why we haven’t heard more from the Lacrosse Coach and team members? It seems very quiet for a team from a smaller private University? I would have expected to see something about the team searching or putting up flyers last weekend. Was he a team member at the time of his disappearance? Did they have tryouts and possibly he was cut from the team? I noticed the Coach did make a Facebook one time comment two days after Owen disappeared. This just seems odd to me?
Click to expand...

UP lacrosse appears to be a club team, not an NCAA team. Club teams are often run by students with a faculty advisor, not a coach, and have varying levels of commitment (generally far less than a varsity athlete) so that may explain the lack of communication from the team. The team has made some posts about him on their UP Men's Lacrosse FB page.

University of Portland Athletics - Official Athletics Website
 
Although I agree that an internet search + watching Into the Wild should not automatically equal the conclusion that he voluntarily hopped the rails, there is a little more that leads police to believe that is a viable possibility. One - he lied to his roommate about where he was going. And mainly, two - he was ACTUALLY LAST SEEN in or very close to an area where freight trains are and depart from, no? While it should definitely not mean LE should shrug their shoulders and write him off, I think it can't be dismissed out of hand either just because it seems odd or our of character.

If there's one thing I learned following cases for a long time, it's never say never and that people don't know their loved ones as well as they think, sometimes to heartbreaking results.
 
Don't want to place undue blame on anyone, roommate or otherwise. And in the early 2000's i can recall things like safe campus walk hotline and other measures on the campuses i attended. I've got really no experience with pseudo religious colleges or having a large hometown friend population on campus.
Really have to wonder in the PNW last 40 years how many college students left for opiate usage, totally secretive. Before internet and social media may have been a different level of response.
Owen would have known about the phenomenon of young west coast panhandlers (street kids* derogatory). And not to perpetuate the gross cliche, about catholic school students but it's a time in life when new riskier behavior could be explored (behind closed doors). All my own BS speculation, but thinking back i can recall some of the more affluent co-eds i knew sharing in the risky behavior way back when. My working class parents did the same as i did, drank partied through a 4 year degree, feel they could realte. Maybe a religious or more strict family environment would never even relate to how much exposure young people in Portland get to the negative shady aspects of life. Pure far fetched speculation, no disrespect intended.
 
PdxErn said:
Absolutely. I'm relieved. It also explains why Owen hasn't been seen or heard of - he is intentionally avoiding detection.

Yes. From all accounts this is extremely atypical behavior from Owen. While he is an adult with the right to lead the life he chooses, I think the circumstances surrounding his disappearance put into question his mental and physical well being. He still needs to be found. Everything we've seen from the family leads me to believe this could end well for Owen if he has managed to keep himself alive and well this long. I get the sense he well be welcomed back and supported through whatever crisis he is evidently experiencing.
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I just want to throw in that as a college prof, I see students all the time whose parents don't know them as well as the parents think. Their behavior on campus and with their college friends can be wildly different than the conforming behavior they exhibited while growing up. Going off the grid or riding trains across the country are commonly expressed ideas, occasionally a student acts on it. One guy took off to parts unknown, came back six months later looking very different (bearded, much more muscular, had been hiking a lot, very tanned) but also with a wolf-dog he'd acquired in Canada. He'd spent most of his time in Canada (he's from SoCal) and learned all about cold weather in Manitoba (lower Manitoba). He then spent time in South Dakota, attempted to join in some Native ceremonies (successfully, really) and then came back with a bunch of pretty good fiction and poetry.

That's just one example. I have quite a few like that.
 
88GlavineRC said:
Pure speculation, but i never pursued living dorms because i knew they'd police my comings and goings, even kick you out for smelling a little pot smoke. If Owens expectations of respect and privacy were not met, maybe he was carrying some resentment thus no call or letter explaining movements.
Edit: no fun in this dorm environment, Owen couldn't even have a 1 night stand (normal for college) and show up the next morning without family and police being notified. Just can't imagine him being pleased with this environment.
Click to expand...

I don't know if Owen's roommate was someone who knew him previously (has this ever been verified?). I imagine that several kids from his HS would've gone to UP (it's 20 minutes away from his neighborhood, taking city streets). I also know that he had friends at a few different high schools in town (through lacrosse, from growing up in same neighborhood, church etc) so any of them could've ended up at UP.

However, knowing some of his good friends at home, these kids care about each other a lot- this group has been friends for years and years. IF it was a friend he lived with, I am not surprised if this kid's radar was that Owen was acting off. I am also confident this crew wouldn't have been against a little pot smoking/drinking/etc- anything within the realm of "normal" for college would've applied here 100%. It would also explain calling his parents right away- these kids and their families know each other so well and would be comfortable talking to each other.

Again, all this only works if they knew each other previously. If not, then I could see where maybe there was pressure from a roommate etc. Does anyone know the dorm's policies? I know my school had substance-free dorms for kids who chose not to party, but again, knowing his friends I don't think he would've opted for that (but then again, I don't know him personally).
 
Sad to consider, LEO's in portland often meet 18-20 year old living on our streets, absent from towns 2000 miles away. I feel like if detectives are further pursuing the train/hitchhiking angle its because they know the statistics, meet them in dire circumstances daily.
Youtube does have videos of young people riding trains, created by the actual riders, they are there and free to view. But Youtube is not real life and there have been young adults hopping trains without cameras for 100 years, literally since the end of Civil War. I do believe the connection between young homeless, IV drugs, irrationality, prolonged absence may be harder for someone outside the Portland area to grasp. Certainly not something a parent would ever want to study to the same degree of a veteran Portland LEO.
 
Kittybunny said:
Although I agree that an internet search + watching Into the Wild should not automatically equal the conclusion that he voluntarily hopped the rails, there is a little more that leads police to believe that is a viable possibility. One - he lied to his roommate about where he was going. And mainly, two - he was ACTUALLY LAST SEEN in or very close to an area where freight trains are and depart from, no? While it should definitely not mean LE should shrug their shoulders and write him off, I think it can't be dismissed out of hand either just because it seems odd or our of character.

If there's one thing I learned following cases for a long time, it's never say never and that people don't know their loved ones as well as they think, sometimes to heartbreaking results.
Click to expand...
Yes to the bold.

Clarifying the point about where he was last seen, police assume that he was walking in the direction of the train yards based on the TriMet video footage and what they've discovered about his search history. However, the distance from where he was last seen (if he was last seen at the intersection of N.Portsmouth and N.Lombard - see below) to the train yards is about a mile and half. The train yard is just one of many places Owen may have been headed.

One thing that's bothering me about Update #2 that police released - they said that the TriMet video footage of Owen's last known sighting places him "walking on North Willamette Boulevard at North Portsmouth Avenue towards North Lombard Street". First of all, this doesn't really make any sense - N. Willamette and N. Portsmouth intersect. N. Willamette is (more or less) parallel to N. Lombard. If Owen was walking toward N. Lombard he would have had to be ON N. Portsmouth, not "at" it, whatever that means. Second, every other report has indicated that the video footage showed Owen near the intersection of N.Portsmouth and N.Lombard, .7 miles away from N. Willamette. Was Update #2 just lazy reporting or can we not be sure of exactly where Owen was last seen?

UPDATE #2: Additional Details Being Released Regarding Owen Klinger
 
EHS86 said:
I don't know if Owen's roommate was someone who knew him previously (has this ever been verified?). I imagine that several kids from his HS would've gone to UP (it's 20 minutes away from his neighborhood, taking city streets). I also know that he had friends at a few different high schools in town (through lacrosse, from growing up in same neighborhood, church etc) so any of them could've ended up at UP.

However, knowing some of his good friends at home, these kids care about each other a lot- this group has been friends for years and years. IF it was a friend he lived with, I am not surprised if this kid's radar was that Owen was acting off. I am also confident this crew wouldn't have been against a little pot smoking/drinking/etc- anything within the realm of "normal" for college would've applied here 100%. It would also explain calling his parents right away- these kids and their families know each other so well and would be comfortable talking to each other.

Again, all this only works if they knew each other previously. If not, then I could see where maybe there was pressure from a roommate etc. Does anyone know the dorm's policies? I know my school had substance-free dorms for kids who chose not to party, but again, knowing his friends I don't think he would've opted for that (but then again, I don't know him personally).
Click to expand...

He did not know his roommates prior to moving in at the end of August.

Dorms at UP all have the same alcohol policy - zero tolerance for students under 21 (like Owen), for students over 21 alcohol is permitted with certain restrictions. Hardly any students over 21 live in the dorms though, so for the most part the dorms are dry.
 
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