GRESHAM — GRESHAM, Ore. (AP) — Police in the east Portland suburb of Gresham, Ore., say they have found the body of a young woman who vanished Tuesday on her way to work and have arrested a neighbor for investigation of aggravated murder.
Police Chief Craig Junginger said late Friday night that searchers found the body of 21-year-old Whitney Heichel (HIKE-el) on a forested mountain east of Gresham.
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The chief said police have arrested a 24-year-old male acquaintance who lived in the same apartment complex.
The discovery comes the day after children playing outside an apartment complex found her cellphone.
The discovery comes the day after children playing outside an apartment complex found her cellphone.
The cellphone contained text messages asking 21-year-old Whitney Heichel where she was and whether she was OK, Gresham Police said Friday. Police didn’t say who sent them or whether there was a response.
The children found the phone in a field that includes a network of walking trails, police Lt. Claudio Grandjean said.
Police were notified of the discovery of the cellphone late Thursday afternoon, and were examining it for clues about what happened to the Starbucks barista after she failed to show up for work Tuesday.
“We know we have a nugget in that phone,” Grandjean said.
Heichel reportedly left her apartment for work at about 6:45 a.m. The drive to Starbucks takes less than five minutes.
Her husband, Clint, called police about three hours later. He told investigators he tried to reach Whitney multiple times after her boss alerted him that she never arrived for her 7 a.m. shift.
Grandjean said neither Clint Heichel nor anyone else has been identified as a person of interest in the case, and it’s still uncertain whether Whitney Heichel is the victim of a crime.
“At this point nobody has been totally cleared, because we don’t know exactly what we have,” he said. “But if you’re asking if he is a suspect — no.”
Police said Heichel’s ATM card was used at a Troutdale gas station at 9:14 a.m. Two hours later, her sport utility vehicle was found in the Walmart parking lot in Wood Village with the passenger side window smashed.
The field in which Heichel’s phone was found is between the gas station and the Walmart, giving investigators another venue to search.
Investigators planned to continue examining surveillance videos from Walmart and other locations Friday, and wrap up their search of Larch Mountain, a remote, forested area east of Gresham where detectives believe the SUV was at some point Tuesday morning. Police have declined to say how they know it was there.
Heichel is described as standing 5-foot-2 and weighing about 120 pounds.
“When she’s been missing for two or three hours, there’s a lot of possible, logical explanations,” Grandjean said. “When she’s been missing for 36 or longer, it’s concerning. And the possible explanations are more concerning, and possibly criminal.”
