Murder of Martha Morrison

Martha Marie Morrison was a 17-year-old resident of Portland, Oregon, who disappeared under unclear circumstances on September 1, 1974. She had grown up largely in foster care in Lane County, Oregon, attended Roosevelt High School in Portland and the Corvallis Farm School, and later participated in the Job Corps program in Arizona. She had a documented history of drug use and of running away from both biological and foster homes. Shortly before she went missing, she had visited family in Eugene with a man with whom she shared an apartment; the couple reportedly quarreled before she disappeared.

On October 12, 1974, human remains belonging to two women were discovered in Dole Valley near Vancouver, Washington. One set of remains was quickly identified through dental records as 18-year-old Carol Platt Valenzuela, who had been reported missing in early August 1974 after failing to return from a hitchhiking trip. The second set of remains could not be identified at the time despite forensic facial reconstructions, nationwide examination, and public appeals. Investigators noted the remains had likely been in the location for at least two weeks, and decomposition and animal activity complicated efforts to determine time or cause of death.

The case remained unresolved for decades. A labeling error discovered in 2011 revealed that Morrison's skull and other bones had been mistakenly stored under Valenzuela's name, contributing to the prolonged delay in identification. DNA comparisons using samples from Morrison's sister and half-brother, and eventually an exhumation of her father's remains funded by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, produced a near-certain match. In July 2015, the previously unidentified remains were confirmed to be those of Martha Morrison.

Following identification, investigators continued pursuing leads, and at various points serial killers Ted Bundy and Randall Woodfield were considered persons of interest in the deaths of Morrison and Valenzuela. Attention eventually focused on Warren Leslie Forrest, who had a lengthy history of violence and was already incarcerated for the 1974 murder of Krista Kay Blake; he had been arrested on October 2, 1974, ten days before the Dole Valley remains were found. In August 2017, DNA testing matched a bloodstain on an air pistol owned by Forrest to Morrison. Officials stated this evidence also implicated him in Valenzuela's death, given that the two victims were found together. Forrest was formally charged with Morrison's murder in 2020 and was found guilty of first-degree murder on February 1, 2023. He has also been named as a suspect in other unresolved disappearances from the 1970s.