OR OR - Joshua Jeffries, 11, Portland, 10 Aug 2001

[pdxmama]

I remember when this happened. Can't believe it is still unsolved and they don't seem to have any leads. Absolutely heartbreaking...

http://www.kptv.com/story/15579694/police-murder-of-portland-boy-still-a-mystery-decade-later

I hope this family gets answers and justice.

 

[UdbCrzy2]

From you link above:

Portland police cold case detectives said someone crept into Jeffries' bedroom and fatally shot the 11-year-old boy.



I hope they can solve it too. It's really sad and scary.

 

[SuziQ]

Did this poor kid have a secret someone didn't want him to tell?

 

[SuziQ]

Post #4 has more details.

http://missing87975.yuku.com/topic/2848

 

[SuziQ]

Very good article from 2003 (updated 2009)

http://thevig.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=15794

 

[pdxmama]

Did this poor kid have a secret someone didn't want him to tell?

That's a possibility SuziQ. In the link you posted below (http://missing87975.yuku.com/topic/2848), the fourth post that you mentioned was an article, here is a quote:

"Hoefert had raised Joshua on and off since he was a toddler. The boy's mother, Patricia Jeffries, has been in and out of jail on drug charges and had been paying monthly child support payments to Hoefert for an extended time."

I know the police interviewed his bio-parents but the only thing that I can think of is that this is somehow financially motivated, maybe to get out of those monthly child support payments? The way it was done almost seems like a professional hit, the way the killer was just in and out and gone. So scary to think something like this can happen.

 

[pdxmama]

Very good article from 2003 (updated 2009)

http://thevig.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=15794

That article had lots of good info. One of the statements made by police was “'The possibility exists that somebody else was the intended victim,' she said." This seems very likely to me since I can't imagine anyone specifically targeting this young boy.

This neighborhood is about 5 minutes from my house, it has changed a lot in the past 10 years but back then there was quite a bit of drugs and crime.

 

[OkieGranny]

From August 2014:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cold-case-2001-murder-of-oregon-boy-remains-unsolved/

In August of 2001, 11-year-old Joshua Michael Jeffries was fatally shot in his Portland, Ore. home. Thirteen years later, police are still searching for his killer...

Based on blood evidence, police say the boy was shot while lying in his bed, very likely while sleeping.

Gayle Hoefert, Jefferies' adopted aunt and caregiver who also lived in the home, told KPTV in 2011 that the boy was able to come into her room that morning. He reportedly said, "Auntie Gayle, someone came into my room," before collapsing. He died a short time later at the hospital.