Woman found dead near I-5 identified as 25-year-old from California
NEAR WOODBURN, Ore. - A woman whose body was found close to Interstate 5 near Woodburn has been identified as a 25-year-old from Redding, California.
Tara Elizabeth Gordon was found dead Friday morning.
Police have not said if the discovery is connected to any crime but did confirm they are pursuing it as a criminal investigation. An autopsy Friday afternoon confirmed that the cause of death was a head injury.
"We're proceeding as if her death is related to a crime, just because there is injury to her." Lt. Gregg Hastings with Oregon State Police said.
Officers went to the location at about 5:20 a.m. Friday following several reports of a person down near the northbound lanes of I-5. The woman was found in the grass near a gravel strip close to the highway. Police said there was no identification on her when her body was found.
"We don’t know if she was walking and someone may’ve seen her, if she was in a vehicle, and may’ve been stopped and let out and something may’ve happened to her," Hastings said. "We just haven’t figured any of that out yet."
Investigators said the woman was in her late teens or early 20s, about 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighed about 100 pounds, with blue eyes and shoulder-length brown hair. She was wearing black jeans, a dark t-shirt, a zippered tan and black plaid sweatshirt with a gray hood and tan hiking boots.
Richard King, who stores his RV near where the woman's body was found, said there has been crime in the area. "It is pretty disturbing because we’ve had a lot of golf carts stolen, houses being broken into here in the estates," King said. "Somebody lost their daughter, you know... She could be a mother, you know? Nobody knows, not right now."
The investigation is continuing. One lane of I-5 was blocked while police worked at the scene.
Investigators said they would like to hear from anyone who was traveling along Interstate 5 near Woodburn early Friday morning who may have seen a female matching the woman's description walking in the area, or any vehicles stopped on the side of the northbound lanes prior to 5:17 a.m.
So far police say they have received more than 35 tips in the case. Anyone with further information regarding the case is asked to contact OSP Northern Command Center dispatch at 800-452-7888.
A crappy way to die no matter what her background. Hope she is now off to a better life.
No one deserves to be killed and dumped along a free way.
25?!!
 @thatsjarrodYeah 25????? the crack must be great to turn you to 45 I have never seen someone 25 who looks that old.
 @Brett Bloom My guess would be meth. Unfortunate no matter how she met her end.
lets all dicuss nervously and nuerotically the keys.   Â
Ok...duhhh...jsut looked at the pictures and I see the keyring. One does looke like a mailbox key...maybe an apartment key? Sad.
25 ..looks 50. tweeking and smoking are cool!
So...where is everyone reading about this keyring? And I have to wonder...could she have lied on documents about her age? This is not a 25 year old. Granted...drugs, hard life...could make her look older. But this just doesn't seem like a 25 year old woman. Could be she took a ride from a stranger, maybe refused advances, got cracked in the head and tossed out? So sad...such a worthless end to a life.
So there is a honda key on the key ring. Do they know what car is registered to her so we can keep an eye out ffor it. that might help find her killer.
somewhere a headbanger wanders free.   for now
Sadly, looking up information on Ms.Gordon she has a mugshot and looks far older then 25. She lived a hard life. But at least her family can now have closure. Whatever events occurred prior to her death, I hope whom ever was involved is caught.
Rest in Peace Ms. Gordon. To the family of Tara, my condolences for your loss. I am glad they found out who this young lady is. But sadden at the loss, her family now feels.
behind the keys is a matchbook I think and yes an actual digital projection of what she may look like would get around alot faster then clothing that people change daily.
Are the police going to repose an artists drawing of her picture or maybe even do a computer image of her? With the technology that is out there she can look alive. It could go a long way in identifying her. When I first saw this, this morning I contacted the Police in California and sent them this article and they replied back that they were going to contact the police up here and get more information. They later told me that they found that it was not the missing young lady in California, but we're great full I sent them a message asking them to look into it. I told them it was a long shot but you could never know until you asked. They said I was correct. I told them well I hope they can find out who she is soon so her family can have closure since someone has lost their daughter,to which I was told you are correct. Apparently they are putting this out on the news down in California now too, since I-5 runs all the way down. I feel bad for this young lady, because she died, she might have layed there for awhile injured even hurting. She was someone's daughter, granddaughter maybe even sister or possibly a mother even. Someone lost a family member and does not even know. So tragic. R.I.P. I-5 Jane Doe.
Another thing.....
Â
The key ring....what I don't see is a key that looks like a car key. Â If she's local, the two keys could be an apartment key and something like a mail box key maybe? Â I think apartment because if she's young, she's more likely to live in an apartment.
Â
Could she have been a hitch-hiker? Â She had on a pretty heavy jacket, jeans, and hiking boots and the jacket they showed looked like it hadn't been washed in a while. Â Kind of sounds like good traveling clothes if she was trying to hitch-hike.
Â
I don't know. Â I need to stop watching so much "First 48" and "Forensic Files".
Actually looking at the longer double sided key, it may say "Honda" on it. A lot of cars have the double side to them, so it will work either way.
Â
Well, Â a couple things I wonder about...
Â
The key chain...?  Can they check the plastic Hawaii key chain for finger prints and run them through the finger print  data-bases?  Also, it looks like there is some sort of card on the key ring that has the words "Scan" and possibly the "&" symbol after it.  Is there a way to identify if there is any info they can scan off that card, if it is scannable?
Â
It looks like a hair tie and a rubber-band around her lower arm. Â Not sure what they could get from that other than epithelial cells, but they already have her body so they can run her DNA. Â Have they done that yet? Â Maybe they have and nothing came up and that's why they are posting the pics?
Â
I hope they are able to find out who she is and locate her family.
You know when people die, man, that's it. It's over. I think people are becoming detached from the weight of what death represents. It's a very sad and tragic event. The poor family has a mass of emotions to deal with. My heart goes out to them.
Seems to be alot of women turning up dead this last week or so......
This comment has been deleted
I'm hoping this is not the same person, and Linnea will be found alive, but from the physical description they're giving in this news story, and what is posted on the Facebook page...
Â
https://www.facebook.com/HelpFindLinnea
So sad and scary. There is going to be a very grief stricken family out there today after hearing they've lost their daughter. I hope they figure out what happened to her and give the family some peace of mind.Â