Authorities in Oregon have arrested a man for allegedly murdering his wife after her body was found hours earlier in a small village near Mount Hood, about 70 miles east of Portland. Two dogs believed to belong to the woman have since been found dead, too.
Susan Lane-Fournier had been reported missing Nov. 22, after failing to show up to work, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said. She was 61, CBS News affiliate KOIN reported.
Michael Fournier, 71, was taken into custody on a second-degree murder charge, according to the sheriff. He is being held without bond in the Clackamas County Jail. According to KOIN, Fournier is Lane-Fournier’s estranged husband. Authorities have asked the public for help as they piece together the man’s activities and whereabouts in the days leading up to Lane-Fournier’s killing.
Although the sheriff’s office did not share details about how Lane-Fournier was murdered, they confirmed the medical examiner ruled her death a homicide after conducting an autopsy.
Clackamas County Sheriff
Lane-Fournier’s disappearance spawned a multi-day search and rescue mission. That operation launched once a member of the local community reported seeing her car, a white 1992 Ford F-250, parked near a trailhead in the area around Mount Hood, the sheriff said.
Lane-Fournier’s friend, James Evans, joined the search. Evans recalled the moment he found the body, not far from the spot where her car was parked, to KOIN.
“I went down the path, maybe 20 yards. I’ve seen some tarp. I thought it was trash,” Evans told the news station. “I bent over to pick up the tarp and as I bent over and came up, I seen a pair of boots connected to a leg.”
Evans said he returned to the lodge and called 911.
“It was pretty heartbreaking,” he told KOIN, adding that Lane-Fournier “was my friend and, you know, I wasn’t super-super close to her, but she was my friend and I told myself that I was gonna find her.”
The nearby Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office recovered two deceased dogs in the area Saturday, according to the sheriff in Clackamas County. The animals are believed to be Lane-Fournier’s dogs, both of which went missing at the same time she did.