UPDATE #2 Silverton, Oregon Murder Suspect in Portland Hospital
Police have indentified the victim as 50-year-old Cassandra K. Wagner.
(SILVERTON, Ore. ) — The man wanted in connection with a murder Saturday in Silverton, Oregon walked into the Silverton Hosptial this morning with serious injuries, and was flown to a Portland hospital for treatment.
As Salem News Journal was first to report on Saturday, police are with Jason Down, and so far he has not yet been charged.
Late Saturday night, witnesses told Salem News Journal that they heard what sounded like gunfire around Abiqua Creek, and the Gallon House Bridge.
Police have indentified the victim as 50-year-old Cassandra K. Wagner.
Salem News Journal will have more on this story as soon as it becomes available.
Original Story:
Several Oregon police agencies are combing heavily wooded areas outside the city of Silverton, Oregon for a man they believe may have murdered a local woman.
Salem News Journal has been on the scene, where witnesses told us that a woman was killed inside a home located at 218 Olsen Street.
A friend of both the victim and the suspect, who would only identify himself as Matt, said the suspect, Jason Down, came to his home a few days ago and told him that he was “going to go down in a hail of bullets.” Matt said that he told police on scene that Jason is an experienced mountain man, and could make it as far as the Cascade Mountains, undetected, without a problem.
He also said that the Jason, who he attended high school with, and the victim he identified with only the first name of Cassie, was a nurse at Providence Medical Center in Mt. Angel.
He added that when Jason was younger, Cassie babysat him, and the two later became a couple. He also said that Jason had an ongoing drug problem.
An airplane has been brought in to help in the search.
Police on scene include: Oregon State Police, Woodburn Police, Silverton Police, and the Marion County Sheriff's Office.
Anyone with information on this case, or see any suspicious activity in the Silverton area, or points further east, should call 9-1-1 immediately.
So far, police have released no information on this case.
Salem News Journal will have more on this story, including video from the scene as soon as it becomes available.
Video by Salem News Journal photographer Jerry Freeman:
