Police in Portland want to know who killed Eunice B. Karr in 1984

Law enforcement agencies in Portland, Oregon will soon be placing photos of their cold-case homicide victims on billboards throughout the city, particularly in east Portland and the community of Gresham. The campaign is aimed at solving about three dozen of Portland's oldest homicide cases, and will be built around a visible theme of "Know Something? Say Something." The slaying of 74-year-old Eunice B. Karr will be among the first of the cases to be publicly displayed.​

Karr was found slain inside her home in the 4700 block of Northeast 100th Avenue on July 28, 1984, according to the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office. She lived alone in a small one-story house. By the time of her death, people said that she had become absentminded, particularly about money matters. One of the things she liked to do was take a bus to downtown Portland and sit in a park in the Burnside area where she could talk to people. The park at that time were frequented by homeless people...

Multnomah County Cold Case Team is using billboards in hopes of solving some of Portland's oldest cold cases

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The day before her body was found, she went to her bank and closed her checking and savings accounts. Oddly, she returned to the bank later that day with a young woman to obtain money, but bank employees had to remind her that she had closed her accounts. At the time of her slaying, she was also trying to sell a vehicle that she no longer drove.

Police had told reporters that she had been beaten and strangled.  During the week before her death a number of people including bank tellers, a locksmith, and a tow truck driver told investigators that they had seen a young woman with Karr.

Four days after Karr's death, sheriff's detectives issued a news release about the slaying along with a composite drawing of the woman, hoping that someone would come forward with information. The woman was described as white, 18-20 years old, "husky" with a full face and a smooth, clear complexion, 5-foot-5 to 5-foot-8 with a medium build and shoulder-length, straight brown hair.

Was it possible that the young woman seen with Karr during her final week of life had talked the feeble-minded old woman into draining her bank accounts so that she could take her money before killing her? Or had she merely been part of a scheme that was thought up by someone else who had actually committed the killing? The woman was, and still is, a mystery.

About a month later, detectives received an anonymous letter that named a female who may have been involved in the case. The letter writer also included a piece of jewelry that may have belonged to Karr. Although investigators interviewed numerous people in an effort to find the the person named in the letter, she could not be located -- at least not under the name used in the letter.

A few days later, someone placed an ad in The Oregonian newspaper classifieds requesting that certain articles be returned, perhaps the jewelry. If they complied, the ad said that a dog would be returned to the people who took the property. Investigators received a number of anonymous calls from the letter writer(s) during September and October of that year, but the calls abruptly stopped.

The following summer, detectives began focusing on another lead involving a man who had been heard bragging about killing an older woman. The man, a known burglar and peeping tom who had operated in the Parkrose area, not far from Karr's home, was questioned, but investigators could not find any evidence that linked him to Karr's slaying.

In January 1986, a female ex-neighbor of Karr's who was in jail on other charges told detectives that she had killed Karr. However, the details she provided about Karr's death were not accurate and she later recanted her earlier admission.

Detectives are asking that anyone who knows the identity of the young woman seen with Karr during her last week of life to please come forward with information. The cops are hoping that several people who they believe know who committed the slaying will be willing to talk about it now.

"The passage of time provides people familiar with the case another chance to reconsider their level of cooperation in working with our detectives, to put to rest a tragic death," said Capt. Monte Reiser, head of the sheriff's department's investigations division. "People familiar with a cold homicide case in any way, who have knowledge that may seem obscure or irrelevant, are encouraged to contact our cold-case detectives. There's no way of knowing if the information they share may be what detectives have been looking for to help close the case."

In the meantime, evidence is being resubmitted to the state crime lab for analysis using scientific methods that were not available in 1984.

The Multnomah County Sheriff's Cold Case Team would like to speak with anyone who has information about the Eunice Karr homicide.  Investigators Rod Englert or Lane Sawyer can be reached at 503-251-2449, or anyone with information can simply call the tip line at 503-251-2404.