Witness: I saw two men dragging a body

Witness: I saw two men dragging a body

Tools

By Thom Jensen and KATU Web Staff

MILWAUKIE, Ore. - A resident of a Milwaukie apartment complex where a 15-year-old was strangled over the weekend told KATU News on Monday that on the day of the murder she saw two men drag a person into an apartment.

The woman - who did not want to be identified - said she awoke early Saturday morning to the sound of voices in the parking lot of the Balboa Apartments at 2717 S.E. Courtney Road. She heard them arguing about who was going to drive.

The woman said she went out on her deck to smoke, and a short time later, at about 6 a.m., she heard more noises.

"There was a disturbance behind the apartment," she said. "They were screaming, 'Cállate! Cállate.' "

That means "Shut up! Shut up!" in Spanish.

Minutes later she said she saw two Hispanic men coming around the corner of the building with something.

"I saw two men dragging a person back into the apartment," she said.

That was apartment No. 21. And the person was covered in a blanket.

About two hours later, Ashley Countryman discovered her 15-year-old sister, Dani, dead.

"I thought she was sleeping and when I pulled the blanket off her head, she wasn't sleeping," said Countryman.  "She was cold.  She was very cold."

The 15-year-old, from Kaufman, Texas, had been in town visiting her sister, who lives in Oregon City, and the pair had gone to a party at the complex that night. Ashley Countryman told KATU News she saw her sister alive and well about 5 a.m. Saturday before Dani went back into the apartment to watch movies and go to sleep.

"Whoever did this had the (guts) to carry her body back in there, pull a blanket off somebody and pull it over her face and lay her in there with everybody inside," Ashley Countryman told KATU News.

On Monday, Clackamas County investigators were back out at the apartment interviewing neighbors. Authorities had not identified any suspects as of Monday evening.

However, they did arrest one man who they said was partying with Dani Countryman and others at the apartments Friday night. Alejandro Rivera-Gamboa, 24, was arrested on a drunken driving charge.  Rivera-Gamboa is not charged in the teen's murder.

Weather & Traffic

Icon
Current Temp 47.0 °F
Light Rain
More Weather
New:

Upload directly from your mobile device.

Learn how

YouNews

This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.

Viewer Poll

Was the beanbag shooting of a 12-year-old girl by a Portland police officer justified or excessive?
Read more about it here

  • Justified
  • Excessive
  • Unsure