Small Town Murder – “Forest Serial Killer – Oak Grove, Oregon”

Hosts: James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman
Release Date: September 18, 2025
Case: The “Forest Serial Killer” a.k.a. Dayton Leroy Rogers
Setting: Oak Grove, Oregon (Portland suburb) and the surrounding forests

Episode Overview

James and Jimmie embark on a harrowing yet darkly comedic exploration of Oak Grove, Oregon, home to a horrifying murder in 1987 that unraveled the case of one of Oregon’s worst serial killers: Dayton Leroy Rogers. The episode covers Rogers’ extremely abusive childhood, years of escalating violence, his double life as an upstanding businessman, and the eventual discovery of his secret forest graveyard. Throughout, the hosts use their trademark irreverence, balancing in-depth research and grim facts with sharp, self-aware humor.

Episode Breakdown

1. Setting The Scene: Oak Grove, Oregon – [05:14]

Oak Grove is a suburb just outside Portland, Oregon with "rough houses" and "lots of traffic problems," as the hosts riff on local reviews.
Crime rates: Property crime above average, but violent crime is well below national average — "I think it's a neighborhood and an intersection, apparently with rough houses from what I hear." — James [08:41]
Real estate is expensive, with median home prices near $440,000. Local events include a mysterious Oak Grove Festival and a folk music fest featuring recurring acts like Robin & Linda Williams ("he’s not dead, he’s hiding, that's what it was." — James, [15:55]).

2. The Attack At Denny’s – The Crime That Unraveled It All [18:50]

August 7, 1987: Disabled man Charles Gates, “a legit hero,” witnesses a brutal attack in a Denny’s parking lot.
Charles, confined to a wheelchair after a construction accident, rolls toward screams and finds a naked, bleeding woman with a man over her.
"If you hear squeaking as your hero comes to get you, you’re like, ah, fuck. But at the same time, anybody is a great help." — James [20:39]
Bystanders and Denny's patrons attempt to block the assailant’s escape as he flees in a pickup. A witness memorizes the license plate, leading police to Dayton Leroy Rogers.

3. Who is Dayton Leroy Rogers? – Childhood & Early Violence [25:45]

Born in 1953, Dayton grew up with “a lunatic” father, Ortis, and an extremely religious household, often living in dire poverty (even in a chicken coop at one point!) [43:16].
Ortis used extreme corporal punishment ("...sometimes wasn’t even for. They didn’t even know what was happening. Just out of nowhere, he would just attack one of the children in such an intense way..." — James [33:39]), and tightly censored all music, marking up any exposed skin on album covers with a marker ("He would draw clothes on their bodies with black felt pen so no flesh would be exposed except for faces and hands." — James [37:44]).
Dayton grew up sexually repressed and developed a fixation on women’s feet—stealing his sisters’ shoes to masturbate as a child [45:10].
By his teens, Dayton’s violence surfaces: shooting at cars with a BB gun, resisting authority, and resenting both parents [48:13].

4. Early Crimes, Legal System Failures, and Escalation – [54:01]

Dayton rapidly escalates to sexual violence. At 19, while newly married, he picks up a 15-year-old hitchhiker, has sex with, and days later stabs her (“...will you marry me?” as she is bleeding out — [56:25]).
Interrogation tapes show Dayton shifting stories—denying intercourse, then admitting it, blaming the “devil,” but later recanting again [66:16].
Despite a pattern of repeated sexual assaults, including tying up, raping, and assaulting multiple teenage girls, he repeatedly avoids lengthy prison time due to plea bargains, psychiatric hospitalizations, or being acquitted altogether — “A murder case looking for a place to happen. Please put this guy away.” — [88:46]. He spends only about 2½ years in prison out of a five-year sentence.

5. The “Normal” Years: Double Life in Suburban Oregon [91:53]

Rogers remarries, opens a successful small engine repair business in Woodburn, becomes a father, and is “reliable and polite” to neighbors (“...the kind of guy you trust with your equipment…” — [94:27]).
His wife, Sherry, is oblivious, though she hears rumors he hangs out in bars. Rogers claims late nights and high odometer readings are just work-related.
By night, he cruises Portland’s red-light districts, picking up sex workers under the pseudonym “Steve the Gambler from Nevada,” paying extra, and developing a pattern: vodka-and-OJ screwdrivers, foot fetishes, escalating to bondage and knife play [102:26].

6. The Forest Graveyard: Discovery and Investigation [110:42]

After Rogers murders Jennifer Lisa Smith in the Denny’s parking lot, evidence (bloody knife, bandaged hand, hot engine, and blood in truck) ties everything to him [114:06].
August 31, 1987: Bow hunter Everett Banyard stumbles upon a partially buried nude body in remote Molalla Forest, which leads police on a grisly search.
Eventually, seven bodies are found, each with signs of extreme violence—many with no clothing, bound with makeshift materials, mutilated, and some with feet sawed off (a unique and disturbing detail leading to the nickname “The Molalla Forest Killer”). (“We got two women and one foot. We got a problem.” — James [131:41])
The clusters and victim backgrounds convince authorities for a time the Green River Killer may have struck here, but the signature is different—especially the focus on feet.

7. Rogers' Modus Operandi & Survivors [146:43]

Rogers typically pays the women, takes them into remote woods, indulges in hours of violent sexual sadism (usually involving feet), and murders those who resist violently.
Survivors testify that if they gave up—“just kill me”—he’d lose all interest and let them go. (“...he has to threaten them, okay? Which is real fucking weird… They all say if they fight, that's when he's into it. If they stop and just go limp, he completely stops. He's done.” — James [99:15]).
Physical evidence: blood, hair, orange juice bottles, mini vodka bottles, and burned women’s clothing and bra clasps in his shop’s woodstove, all tightly link Rogers to the murders.

8. Trial(s), Defense, and Aftermath [153:14, 154:15, 162:06]

At trial for the murder of Jennifer Smith, his lawyer argues the killing was self-defense—claiming she tried to rob him naked at knifepoint (“...if a prostitute is going to rob a customer...What is she supposed to have said? 'Mr. Rogers, take the knife for a minute so I can get my clothes back on and get away?'” — Prosecutor [162:01]). Rogers himself testifies with outlandish self-defense stories.
Jury deliberates for two weeks, ultimately convicting him, but opt against the death penalty—granting life with possibility of parole after 30 years, believing his killing wasn’t proved to be deliberate or that he posed a continuing threat [162:48].
For the forest murders, an all-female jury convicts him. Eleven women testify about surviving his attacks; forensic evidence is overwhelming. Rogers is sentenced to death.
But his death sentence is overturned and reinstated multiple times, due to appeals and changing laws—costing Oregon taxpayers millions, and putting victims’ families through decades of legal agony.
As of the episode’s release, all Oregon death sentences have been commuted to life without parole.

Key Moments & Quotes

Standout Quotes

On the killer’s childhood:
“He would draw clothes on their bodies with black felt pen so no flesh would be exposed except for faces and hands.” — James [37:44]
On police blowing the arrest:
“His answer is, quote, next time, I won't leave a witness.” — James [90:18]
“And they said, well, parole granted!” — (sarcastically, on the parole board’s cluelessness) [90:39]
On the disturbing foot fetish:
“If you didn’t draw fucking parkas on the Hawaiian girls, he could have jerked off to that and not had to find something weird to jerk off to.” — James [46:20]
On evidence in his shop:
“They end up finding bra clasps from 15 different bras. Just gonna say she's not wearing 15 bras. She’d have to have 30 tits for that, right? 30 tits. She’d need the 30 titted woman.” — James & Jimmie [120:14]
On the serial killer's “signature”:
“What is the ultimate act of dominance for him to remove that foot? We submit that's what happened in the Molalla Forest.” — Prosecutor [167:38]

Notable Timestamps

[20:39] – Charles Gates rolls into action to try to help the screaming victim in the Denny’s lot
[54:01] – Early violent sexual assaults, repeated parole failures
[91:53] – Rogers opens his own business and becomes a family man
[102:26] – Details of his violent sexual fantasies and interactions from nearly 33 surviving women
[110:42] – Night of murder at Denny’s, pursuing evidence, and attempts to clean up
[127:14] – Discovery of Molalla Forest body, and the subsequent finding of multiple bodies
[153:14] – Survivors provide crucial insight: fighting results in attacks, surrender can mean survival
[154:15] – Prosecution lays out the pattern; defense claims self-defense
[162:06] – Verdict, jury confusion, frustrations (“12 reasonably intelligent adults... couldn't decide whether he's guilty in two weeks”)

Thematic Takeaways

Systemic Failures: The episode hammers on repeated failures of the legal and parole system to keep Rogers in prison, with several comic but furious asides about the incompetence ("We always see that too. In a lot of our stories. You'll have somebody in a family whose family adopted a bunch of kids and it really pissed one of the kids off good. And they ended up being an asshole." — James [26:29]).
Victim Vulnerability: Most of Rogers' victims are sex workers or vulnerable women, underscoring society’s disregard and the police’s initial slow response.
Killer’s M.O.: A combination of sexual repression, violent sadism, and an obsession with feet becomes the “signature” connecting all the crimes.
Community Impact: The case leaves a deep scar on Oak Grove, Portland, and beyond, with families and survivors reliving the trauma through decades of legal wrangling. Rogers' refusal to confess to other murders raises chilling doubts about more victims.

Conclusion

This episode exemplifies Small Town Murder’s strengths: razor-sharp, humane comedy in the face of horror, exhaustive research, and a refusal to sugarcoat the failures that allow predators to flourish. The case of Dayton Leroy Rogers leaves haunting unanswered questions—and reinforces that even everyday heroes, like Charles Gates, can make a small difference in horror stories we hope are mostly over.

For listeners:
If you have a taste for true crime mixed with bleak, irreverent humor and want a thorough breakdown of one of Oregon’s worst serial murder cases—along with cautionary tales about parole boards—this episode is a must.

“He was more evil than any of us could possibly imagine. Once all the cards were on the table, we could see something that was just monstrous.”
— Charles Gates [184:21]

Small Town Murder – “Forest Serial Killer – Oak Grove, Oregon”

Episode Overview

Episode Breakdown

1. Setting The Scene: Oak Grove, Oregon – [05:14]

Oak Grove is a suburb just outside Portland, Oregon with "rough houses" and "lots of traffic problems," as the hosts riff on local reviews.
Crime rates: Property crime above average, but violent crime is well below national average — "I think it's a neighborhood and an intersection, apparently with rough houses from what I hear." — James [08:41]
Real estate is expensive, with median home prices near $440,000. Local events include a mysterious Oak Grove Festival and a folk music fest featuring recurring acts like Robin & Linda Williams ("he’s not dead, he’s hiding, that's what it was." — James, [15:55]).

2. The Attack At Denny’s – The Crime That Unraveled It All [18:50]

August 7, 1987: Disabled man Charles Gates, “a legit hero,” witnesses a brutal attack in a Denny’s parking lot.
Charles, confined to a wheelchair after a construction accident, rolls toward screams and finds a naked, bleeding woman with a man over her.
"If you hear squeaking as your hero comes to get you, you’re like, ah, fuck. But at the same time, anybody is a great help." — James [20:39]
Bystanders and Denny's patrons attempt to block the assailant’s escape as he flees in a pickup. A witness memorizes the license plate, leading police to Dayton Leroy Rogers.

3. Who is Dayton Leroy Rogers? – Childhood & Early Violence [25:45]

Born in 1953, Dayton grew up with “a lunatic” father, Ortis, and an extremely religious household, often living in dire poverty (even in a chicken coop at one point!) [43:16].
Ortis used extreme corporal punishment ("...sometimes wasn’t even for. They didn’t even know what was happening. Just out of nowhere, he would just attack one of the children in such an intense way..." — James [33:39]), and tightly censored all music, marking up any exposed skin on album covers with a marker ("He would draw clothes on their bodies with black felt pen so no flesh would be exposed except for faces and hands." — James [37:44]).
Dayton grew up sexually repressed and developed a fixation on women’s feet—stealing his sisters’ shoes to masturbate as a child [45:10].
By his teens, Dayton’s violence surfaces: shooting at cars with a BB gun, resisting authority, and resenting both parents [48:13].

4. Early Crimes, Legal System Failures, and Escalation – [54:01]

Dayton rapidly escalates to sexual violence. At 19, while newly married, he picks up a 15-year-old hitchhiker, has sex with, and days later stabs her (“...will you marry me?” as she is bleeding out — [56:25]).
Interrogation tapes show Dayton shifting stories—denying intercourse, then admitting it, blaming the “devil,” but later recanting again [66:16].
Despite a pattern of repeated sexual assaults, including tying up, raping, and assaulting multiple teenage girls, he repeatedly avoids lengthy prison time due to plea bargains, psychiatric hospitalizations, or being acquitted altogether — “A murder case looking for a place to happen. Please put this guy away.” — [88:46]. He spends only about 2½ years in prison out of a five-year sentence.

5. The “Normal” Years: Double Life in Suburban Oregon [91:53]

Rogers remarries, opens a successful small engine repair business in Woodburn, becomes a father, and is “reliable and polite” to neighbors (“...the kind of guy you trust with your equipment…” — [94:27]).
His wife, Sherry, is oblivious, though she hears rumors he hangs out in bars. Rogers claims late nights and high odometer readings are just work-related.
By night, he cruises Portland’s red-light districts, picking up sex workers under the pseudonym “Steve the Gambler from Nevada,” paying extra, and developing a pattern: vodka-and-OJ screwdrivers, foot fetishes, escalating to bondage and knife play [102:26].

6. The Forest Graveyard: Discovery and Investigation [110:42]

After Rogers murders Jennifer Lisa Smith in the Denny’s parking lot, evidence (bloody knife, bandaged hand, hot engine, and blood in truck) ties everything to him [114:06].
August 31, 1987: Bow hunter Everett Banyard stumbles upon a partially buried nude body in remote Molalla Forest, which leads police on a grisly search.
Eventually, seven bodies are found, each with signs of extreme violence—many with no clothing, bound with makeshift materials, mutilated, and some with feet sawed off (a unique and disturbing detail leading to the nickname “The Molalla Forest Killer”). (“We got two women and one foot. We got a problem.” — James [131:41])
The clusters and victim backgrounds convince authorities for a time the Green River Killer may have struck here, but the signature is different—especially the focus on feet.

7. Rogers' Modus Operandi & Survivors [146:43]

Rogers typically pays the women, takes them into remote woods, indulges in hours of violent sexual sadism (usually involving feet), and murders those who resist violently.
Survivors testify that if they gave up—“just kill me”—he’d lose all interest and let them go. (“...he has to threaten them, okay? Which is real fucking weird… They all say if they fight, that's when he's into it. If they stop and just go limp, he completely stops. He's done.” — James [99:15]).
Physical evidence: blood, hair, orange juice bottles, mini vodka bottles, and burned women’s clothing and bra clasps in his shop’s woodstove, all tightly link Rogers to the murders.

8. Trial(s), Defense, and Aftermath [153:14, 154:15, 162:06]

At trial for the murder of Jennifer Smith, his lawyer argues the killing was self-defense—claiming she tried to rob him naked at knifepoint (“...if a prostitute is going to rob a customer...What is she supposed to have said? 'Mr. Rogers, take the knife for a minute so I can get my clothes back on and get away?'” — Prosecutor [162:01]). Rogers himself testifies with outlandish self-defense stories.
Jury deliberates for two weeks, ultimately convicting him, but opt against the death penalty—granting life with possibility of parole after 30 years, believing his killing wasn’t proved to be deliberate or that he posed a continuing threat [162:48].
For the forest murders, an all-female jury convicts him. Eleven women testify about surviving his attacks; forensic evidence is overwhelming. Rogers is sentenced to death.
But his death sentence is overturned and reinstated multiple times, due to appeals and changing laws—costing Oregon taxpayers millions, and putting victims’ families through decades of legal agony.
As of the episode’s release, all Oregon death sentences have been commuted to life without parole.

Key Moments & Quotes

Standout Quotes

On the killer’s childhood:
“He would draw clothes on their bodies with black felt pen so no flesh would be exposed except for faces and hands.” — James [37:44]
On police blowing the arrest:
“His answer is, quote, next time, I won't leave a witness.” — James [90:18]
“And they said, well, parole granted!” — (sarcastically, on the parole board’s cluelessness) [90:39]
On the disturbing foot fetish:
“If you didn’t draw fucking parkas on the Hawaiian girls, he could have jerked off to that and not had to find something weird to jerk off to.” — James [46:20]
On evidence in his shop:
“They end up finding bra clasps from 15 different bras. Just gonna say she's not wearing 15 bras. She’d have to have 30 tits for that, right? 30 tits. She’d need the 30 titted woman.” — James & Jimmie [120:14]
On the serial killer's “signature”:
“What is the ultimate act of dominance for him to remove that foot? We submit that's what happened in the Molalla Forest.” — Prosecutor [167:38]

Notable Timestamps

[20:39] – Charles Gates rolls into action to try to help the screaming victim in the Denny’s lot
[54:01] – Early violent sexual assaults, repeated parole failures
[91:53] – Rogers opens his own business and becomes a family man
[102:26] – Details of his violent sexual fantasies and interactions from nearly 33 surviving women
[110:42] – Night of murder at Denny’s, pursuing evidence, and attempts to clean up
[127:14] – Discovery of Molalla Forest body, and the subsequent finding of multiple bodies
[153:14] – Survivors provide crucial insight: fighting results in attacks, surrender can mean survival
[154:15] – Prosecution lays out the pattern; defense claims self-defense
[162:06] – Verdict, jury confusion, frustrations (“12 reasonably intelligent adults... couldn't decide whether he's guilty in two weeks”)

Thematic Takeaways

Systemic Failures: The episode hammers on repeated failures of the legal and parole system to keep Rogers in prison, with several comic but furious asides about the incompetence ("We always see that too. In a lot of our stories. You'll have somebody in a family whose family adopted a bunch of kids and it really pissed one of the kids off good. And they ended up being an asshole." — James [26:29]).
Victim Vulnerability: Most of Rogers' victims are sex workers or vulnerable women, underscoring society’s disregard and the police’s initial slow response.
Killer’s M.O.: A combination of sexual repression, violent sadism, and an obsession with feet becomes the “signature” connecting all the crimes.
Community Impact: The case leaves a deep scar on Oak Grove, Portland, and beyond, with families and survivors reliving the trauma through decades of legal wrangling. Rogers' refusal to confess to other murders raises chilling doubts about more victims.

Conclusion

“He was more evil than any of us could possibly imagine. Once all the cards were on the table, we could see something that was just monstrous.”
— Charles Gates [184:21]

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Forest Serial Killer - Oak Grove, Oregon

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Summary

Small Town Murder – “Forest Serial Killer – Oak Grove, Oregon”

Episode Overview

Episode Breakdown

1. Setting The Scene: Oak Grove, Oregon – [05:14]

2. The Attack At Denny’s – The Crime That Unraveled It All [18:50]

3. Who is Dayton Leroy Rogers? – Childhood & Early Violence [25:45]

4. Early Crimes, Legal System Failures, and Escalation – [54:01]

5. The “Normal” Years: Double Life in Suburban Oregon [91:53]

6. The Forest Graveyard: Discovery and Investigation [110:42]

7. Rogers' Modus Operandi & Survivors [146:43]

8. Trial(s), Defense, and Aftermath [153:14, 154:15, 162:06]

Key Moments & Quotes

Standout Quotes

Notable Timestamps

Thematic Takeaways

Conclusion

Summary

Small Town Murder – “Forest Serial Killer – Oak Grove, Oregon”

Episode Overview

Episode Breakdown

1. Setting The Scene: Oak Grove, Oregon – [05:14]

2. The Attack At Denny’s – The Crime That Unraveled It All [18:50]

3. Who is Dayton Leroy Rogers? – Childhood & Early Violence [25:45]

4. Early Crimes, Legal System Failures, and Escalation – [54:01]

5. The “Normal” Years: Double Life in Suburban Oregon [91:53]

6. The Forest Graveyard: Discovery and Investigation [110:42]

7. Rogers' Modus Operandi & Survivors [146:43]

8. Trial(s), Defense, and Aftermath [153:14, 154:15, 162:06]

Key Moments & Quotes

Standout Quotes

Notable Timestamps

Thematic Takeaways

Conclusion