Identified! OR - Salem, I-5 S of Woodburn, 'Portland Eck', WhtMale 35-45, UP9991, SK vic, moccasin boots, Jul'80 Larry Eugene Parks

[Ambercat]

Unidentified White Male

Doe Network Case Number 1281UMOR http://doenetwork.org/cases/1281umor.html

The victim was discovered on July 18, 1980 in Marion County, Oregon
Estimated Date of Death: July 18, 1980
Cause of Death: Asphyxiated due to ligature strangulation.

Estimated age: 35-40 years old
Approximate Height and Weight: 5'6"; 160 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown, balding hair; blue eyes and a mustache.
Clothing: Red T-shirt. Blue, Wrangler jeans. Brown leather boots.
Dentals: Available.

The victim was located near the side of Interstate 5, one mile south of Woodburn, Oregon. The victim's blood contained alcohol (0.06 percent) and diazepam. The victim's bootlaces and belt were missing. He is thought to be a victim of serial-killer Randy Kraft. According to a list that Kraft kept, he called this man "Portland Elk” (according to Doe Network) or “Portland Eck” (according to the LA Times).

I can’t find a listing for him in NamUs at this time.

This is an article about the man that appeared in the Eugene Register http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7G0VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=reEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6807,196695

 

[Ambercat]

This might be a long shot, but I was wondering if Steve Losonczi http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/l/losonczi_steve.html could be this John Doe? I noticed a strong resemblance between the two and the heights and weights are very close.

 

[future criminologist]

I think you have a really good match here - I did a cursory search and could not find any others anywhere close to this one. You'll need to find out however if there are dental records available in Steve's case - the UID file doesn't say if they have DNA (it was 1980 so I doubt it) but they do have dentals so in order to make a match you'll need the MP's dentals.

 

[CarlK90245]

I think you have a really good match here - I did a cursory search and could not find any others anywhere close to this one. You'll need to find out however if there are dental records available in Steve's case - the UID file doesn't say if they have DNA (it was 1980 so I doubt it) but they do have dentals so in order to make a match you'll need the MP's dentals.

I agree. Everything is consistent except the moustache. He has a similar hairline, blue eyes, height/weight are very close, his age (though slightly above range) is close enough , and the timeline is good.

Definitely worth a look.

 

[Cubby]

Everything matches up closely enough and with the time difference between DLC and time found it would be enough to grow a mustache.

I'd definately submit. The resemblence is too strong not too imo.

 

[Ambercat]

Sorry that it has taken me so long to reply. I couldn't find much more out about Steve Losonczi's disappearance. I am going to submit this to Marion County as a possible match (I never did this before). I will let you know what they respond. This might be sort of dumb question, but is it ok to do this via e-mail?

 

[Ambercat]

On Wednesday afternoon, I e-mailed the Oregon State Police (one of the agencies handling the unidentified man in Oregon’s case) and the LAPD (the agency handling Steve Losonczi’s disappearance). I wrote to the Marion County Medical Examiner (the other agency handling the Oregon John Doe’s case) via postal mail because I couldn’t find an e-mail address for them. This is the first time I did this and I was wondering, how long does it take for LE to respond and let you know that they received your information about a possible match?

 

[CarlK90245]

On Wednesday afternoon, I e-mailed the Oregon State Police (one of the agencies handling the unidentified man in Oregon’s case) and the LAPD (the agency handling Steve Losonczi’s disappearance). I wrote to the Marion County Medical Examiner (the other agency handling the Oregon John Doe’s case) via postal mail because I couldn’t find an e-mail address for them. This is the first time I did this and I was wondering, how long does it take for LE to respond and let you know that they received your information about a possible match?

There is no rule-of-thumb. Some agencies respond quickly, some don't respond at all. I've never dealt with the Oregon State Police, so I couldn't tell you what to expect.

 

[Ambercat]

I received an e-mail today (Friday June 10th) from Jill Spackman of the Oregon State Police stating

I am working on the Marion County Unid'd and LAPD missing person case.

I just wanted to let you know we are addressing it now and will let you know when we complete this.


Jill Spackman, Analyst
Oregon State Police
Homicide Investigation Tracking System HITS, ViCAP, Interpol

 

[Ambercat]

Yesterday, I e-mailed Jill Spackman because I was curious as to what happened regarding the possible match between Portland Eck and Steve Losonczi. Her reply was as follows

No problem, I am glad you e-mailed me. I haven't heard a thing since they were going out to see if the ex-girlfriends daughter still has his belongings. I just wrote myself a note to contact them.

I will let you know.

Jill

 

[Donjeta]

I had a dream about him the other night and I learned in the dream that he was identified as Jon Garete. I am not psychic and there's no reason for anybody to look that up thinking it's really his name, it was just weird where that came from.

Losonczki looks good to me, hope you find out soon!

 

[Ambercat]

I had a dream about him the other night and I learned in the dream that he was identified as Jon Garete. I am not psychic and there's no reason for anybody to look that up thinking it's really his name, it was just weird where that came from.

Losonczki looks good to me, hope you find out soon!

That's really interesting, because I have had a number of dreams about unidentified or missing people and I was always hesitant to post anything on Websleuths about it because I'm not really sure how people would react. For example, I had a really hair-raising nightmare about a missing person from the 1970s being murdered in an area near a power plant that is very familiar and it shook me up for days after that.

Was "Jon Garete" written or phonetic (could it have been John Garetti or other spellings)?

 

[CarlK90245]

I had a dream about him the other night and I learned in the dream that he was identified as Jon Garete. I am not psychic and there's no reason for anybody to look that up thinking it's really his name, it was just weird where that came from.

Losonczki looks good to me, hope you find out soon!

I wonder if in your dream, you came up with the name Garete because it sounds similar to the word "garotte", which is a strangulation device.

 

[Ambercat]

I still haven't heard back from Oregon about if Steve Losonczi is a match or not, but I was thinking if the notation for the unidentified man was "Portland Elk," I wonder if the man's nickname was "Buck?"

 

[Ambercat]

He is now in NamUs -- https://identifyus.org/en/cases/9991

No rule outs are listed. I never did hear back about Steve Losonczi; I'm not sure if that is a no, or they are still working on it, or ???

 

[Ambercat]

NamUs has a new sketch for this UID --

His age is estimated in NamUs to be 35 to 45. Wayne Joseph Dukette is often thought to be Randy Kraft's oldest victim -- maybe this unidentified man is. It is possible that some of the notations on Randy Kraft's list are older than the majority of his known victims and maybe that is why a particular entry hasn't been matched to a particular victim [IMO].

 

[Ambercat]

:bump: One exclusion, Edward Nye, has been listed on this UID's NamUs page. I never did hear back about Steve Losonczi -- I wonder if they were ever able to track down his ex's daughter about his stuff? If so, did she still have it?

 

[vermontaigne]

Maybe hitching from Elk Grove, CA?

 

[Ambercat]

I was looking up something completely unrelated, and a thought occurred to me -- if (and this is sort of a big if) Randy Kraft knew that this person had not been identified, I wondered if "Portland Elk" could be a play on the Cervinae subfamily that he was a "John Doe" from the Portland area?

I came across two articles from Oregon from July 1980 when he was found. The first one is asking for his and Michael Shawn O'Fallon (who hadn't been IDed at that time) identity. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QQtWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7eEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2892%2C6692859

The second ran 5 days later, again asking if the public could identify this person. It also looks like they made a connection fairly quickly between the hitchhiking murders in Southern California and in Oregon. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RgtWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7eEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5839%2C8033984

 

[EmmaliLucia]

Jay Pringle looks like it could be him, almost, but he would've had to have aged nearly two decades in three years, and not even the meth type of aging, more of the old married man aging. So I guess he's out.




I feel like there has to be something to this Portland thing, maybe he was picked up in Portland, but I feel like he might have lived in Portland?

I feel like he might have been running from somewhere, not necessarily running for his life, more like he had a mid-life crisis and dealt with it badly, like running away badly. Who knows though?