The Squeaky Wheel

Summary

Podcast Summary: Stolen Voices of Dole Valley

Episode 7: The Squeaky Wheel

Date: September 23, 2025
Host: Carolyn Osorio
Guests: Star Laura (sister of missing Jamie Grissom), Dan Tilkin (investigative reporter), Lindsay Arnold (retired homicide detective), and others

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Episode Overview

This episode, "The Squeaky Wheel," delves into the tireless pursuit of justice by Star Laura, whose sister Jamie Grissom disappeared in the early 1970s and is believed to have been one of the first victims of suspected serial killer Warren Forrest. The episode weaves together the voices of surviving family members, investigative journalists, and detectives to highlight the overlooked cases, lost evidence, and systemic failures that have plagued the pursuit of answers for the families of Dole Valley’s missing girls.

Main Themes:

• The power of persistence from families and advocates in cold cases.
• The failures and bureaucratic inertia of law enforcement investigations.
• The importance of remembering and honoring victims whose voices have been lost.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Recap: Warren Forrest’s Crimes and Conviction

• The episode opens by summarizing Forrest’s conviction for Christa Blake’s murder (1979), highlighting suspicions he was a serial killer and his concerning privileges in prison (conjugal visits, pornography) ([03:16]).
  • Quote: “In what world does a serial rapist murderer get pornography? … I just couldn't believe it.” — Star Laura ([03:28])

2. Jamie Grissom’s Disappearance and Star's Lifelong Search

• Background (04:04–06:08):
  • Star and Jamie grew up in unstable, abusive environments; Jamie was protective and wise beyond her years.
  • Jamie went missing at 16, leaving Star with unanswered questions for decades.
  • Quote: “The girls clung to each other...their sisterly bond was primal.” — Carolyn Osorio ([04:37])
• Immediate Aftermath:
  • Star was largely ignored or dismissed by investigators throughout her young adulthood.
  • She repeatedly supplied dental records for Jamie to authorities, who often misplaced or lost them ([13:11], [15:00], [15:31]).
  • Star’s feeling of institutional neglect: “Don’t you guys keep records of this?” ([14:57])

3. Systemic Failures and Persistent Advocacy

• Ignored by Investigators:
  • Police and social services failed to immediately file missing persons for Jamie, leading to cold leads and lost opportunities.
    • “There isn't a missing persons report filed for her until over a month later.” — Dan Tilkin ([33:29])
  • Lack of communication was pervasive; even when Jamie was suspected as a Forrest victim, Star wasn’t informed ([16:33]).
• Star’s Determination:
  • Despite setbacks, Star decided in her 40s to reinvigorate her search: “They're not going to stop me this time.” ([17:59])

4. Journalists as Allies: Dan Tilkin and the Power of Media

• First Contact with Dan Tilkin (2006):
  • Star saw a TV segment about unidentified remains and bravely contacted Dan to share her story ([10:09]).
  • Dan admits skepticism but soon recognizes the scale of oversight and the hidden serial killings ([25:10], [30:50]).
  • Quote: “People just don't go missing, young women, and not be talked about. It just doesn't happen.” — Dan Tilkin ([30:50])
• Growing Collaboration:
  • Dan’s reporting rekindled public and official interest, making the case visible after years of silence ([24:57]).
  • Quote: “With Star’s cooperation. We just kept doing more and more stories and trying to figure out why this had been forgotten, why nothing had happened. At some point, I dubbed Warren Forrest the forgotten serial killer, because that’s what he is.” — Dan Tilkin ([36:14])

5. Lost and Found: The Saga of the Dole Valley Jane Doe’s Remains

• The Missing Evidence:
  • Star pushes for DNA testing on unidentified remains, but the sheriff’s office claims they've lost the bones ([38:11]).
  • Dan and Star trace the remains, finding them misfiled in another victim's evidence—solving a 40-year bureaucratic blunder ([39:41], [41:21]).
  • Quote: “No matter where the remains are, it’s not Jamie. So it’s really none of your business. Oh, did that make me mad.” — Star Laura ([41:21])
• Role of “Squeaky Wheels”:
  • Both Star and Dan’s persistent pressure led to the rediscovery of key evidence, demonstrating the crucial impact of advocacy and investigative journalism ([41:48]).

6. The Burden of “Forgotten” Victims

• Unreported, Uninvestigated, Unremembered:
  • Dan and Carolyn discuss how poverty and lack of family support led to victims being overlooked by media and police ([32:34]).
  • Quote: “If Jamie was from a middle class family, her disappearance would have likely been breaking news... But the airwaves were silent when Jamie vanished.” — Carolyn Osorio ([32:50])

7. Inside Law Enforcement: Cold Case Squad Struggles

• Detective Lindsay Arnold’s Role:
  • Lindsay Arnold became haunted by the cases, pushing for a cold case squad despite internal resistance ([43:26], [46:37]).
    • “You can’t expect anyone to have the same passion that you do... I did all the work almost like handing it to them. Like, can we just get the stamp of approval? But it was hard.” — Lindsay Arnold ([47:52], [49:17])
  • She built trust and rapport with Star, reinforcing empathy and survivor collaboration.

8. Emotional and Community Impact

• The Push for Recognition:
  • The episode closes by emphasizing how Star’s quest is about more than her sister: it’s a mission to give voice and dignity to all of Forrest’s suspected victims ([22:17], [46:16]).
  • Quote: “For Jamie, I wanted everybody to know who she was and what happened. And then it wasn’t just her. It was all these other girls, too. And I just thought...this has to be told.” — Star Laura ([22:17])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “She never gave up.” — Lindsay Arnold on Star Laura’s perseverance ([06:35], [46:16])
• “One of the things that's so bizarre about this case is there’s almost no record of him being covered in the news when he was doing his thing.” — Dan Tilkin ([34:19])
• “A lot of the things that Warren Forrest did were so unbelievable...you think...‘This couldn’t have happened.’” — Dan Tilkin ([40:09])
• “If you work for the sheriff's office, that's what you're entrusted to do. You should do that.” — Lindsay Arnold ([43:02])
• “Detectives rotate in, detectives rotate out...so this person's murder just goes into an archive box or...a shelf.” — Lindsay Arnold ([45:56])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:36 | Warren Forrest’s conviction and prison privileges | | 04:04 | Star Laura’s childhood with Jamie and the beginning of her search | | 10:09 | Star’s first meeting with reporter Dan Tilkin | | 13:11 | Star repeatedly contacts law enforcement for Jamie’s dental records | | 18:37 | Star finally hears Forrest’s name and receives Jamie’s case file | | 24:57 | Community impact - Dan’s reporting brings visibility to the cases | | 30:50 | Dan’s skepticism and realization about the hidden scope of the case | | 32:34 | Discussion of how vulnerable girls were more likely to be overlooked | | 33:29 | Five-week delay in missing persons report for Jamie Grissom | | 34:19 | Absence of media coverage for Warren Forrest in the 1970s | | 36:14 | Dan dubs Forrest "the forgotten serial killer" | | 37:38 | The saga of the “lost” Jane Doe remains and their rediscovery | | 41:21 | Star’s anger at institutional indifference | | 43:02 | Detective Lindsay Arnold on her realization about the unresolved cold cases | | 47:52 | Arnold’s frustration with bureaucracy resisting her push for a cold case squad | | 49:46 | Introduction of Denny Hunter, the “unsung hero” on the cold case squad |

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Original Language & Tone

The episode maintains a respectful, investigative, and at times intimate tone, blending moments of righteous anger (especially from Star and Dan) with determination, sorrow, and hope. The host, Carolyn Osorio, often highlights the emotional stakes and conveys deep empathy for survivors and families.

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Conclusion

Episode 7, "The Squeaky Wheel," powerfully articulates how persistent families and dogged journalists can challenge institutional inertia and resurrect the stories of the disappeared. It unveils the obstacles faced by survivors, the indifference and blunders of law enforcement, and the redemptive power of never giving up—no matter how many years have passed.

Memorable Closing Reflection:
“She never gave up.” — This sentiment, expressed by several voices throughout the episode, epitomizes the rallying spirit that the families, advocates, and some inside law enforcement bring to these all-but-forgotten cases, insisting the victims’ memories and stories will not fade into silence.

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Transcript

[Carolyn Osorio]

This message is sponsored by Greenlight. I absolutely love it when I see a meme about newbie parents saying something to the effect of yeah, it's so much easier now for you because your kids are getting older. And I'm thinking right. In my experience, not so much. Don't get me wrong, toddler years are something else. But next level parenting as they get older isn't a cakewalk because you're really teaching kids how to be adults. And that's where Greenlight comes in. Greenlight is a debit card and money app made for families and it's really fun because kids can play games that teach money skills. And then there's also a chores feature which adults can play. You can set up a one time or recurring chore based on your family's needs and then you're basically rewarding kids with a job well done. And let's be honest, you get paid with a more organized household. As a Gen Xer, I wish Greenlight was around when I was a kid as a true primer for the real world. I mean, sure, we were out playing until the street lights came on, but I never made the connection back then that saving money would help me build my dreams. Chores were work with a specific goal in mind, immediately spend exactly what I'd earned. And until Greenlight came into my life, I didn't realize I was teaching my kids the same exact thing. So Green Light is the easy, easy, convenient way for parents to raise financially smart kids and for families to navigate life together. Maybe that's why millions of parents trust and kids love learning about money on Greenlight, the number one family finance and safety app. Don't wait to teach your kids real world money skills. Start your risk free Greenlight trial [e-mail] stolen voices that's greenlight.com stolenvoices to get started greenlight.com stolenvoices lemonada this series contains descriptions of sexual and physical violence throughout. Listener discretion is advised. Previously on Stolen Voices of dole valley. In 1979, Warren Forrest was convicted of the first degree murder of Christa Blake. He was sentenced to life in prison but eligible for parole in 42 years.

[Rick Buckner]

We told the parole board at the time we think this guy's a serial killer. So when you're setting his maximum, ask him about that. And they said, are you a serial killer? And his answer was, I don't know, maybe. And so they set his actual release date way down the road. And he was of course denying any involvement in all this stuff.

[Dan Tilkin]

This is another truth is Stranger than fiction situation. He goes to prison for killing Christa Blake and pretty quickly falls in love with his prison nurse. She gives up her career so she can marry this guy who's done these horrible things.

[Carolyn Osorio]

A sexual sadist suspected of being a serial killer, Warren Forrest not only enjoyed conjugal visits with his new wife, but also had pornography delivered to him at the state penitentiary.

[Star Laura]

At that time it was legal. He got to do that. And I was so furious. I wanted to tell Dan Tilkin. I wanted it all over the news. I thought in what world does a serial rapist murderer get pornography? You know, I just couldn't believe it.

[Carolyn Osorio]

And what about the other cases on Mike's Butcher paper roll? At that time there were still five young women believed to be victims of Warren Forrest. At the top of the list was the still missing 16 year old Jamie Grissom.

[Star Laura]

My first name is Star. Jamie was my sister, Jamie Grissom.

[Carolyn Osorio]

You heard from Star in our very first episode where she described a difficult childhood. Star was three and Jamie four when they became wards of the state. Their father was in prison and their mother was mentally ill.

[Star Laura]

They found us living in a car with her and she had said that she was waiting for the FBI because there was a gang after her and she had schizophrenia was what it was.

[Carolyn Osorio]

The girls clung to each other in foster care, endured a stormy and abusive childhood together. Their sisterly bond was primal. Jamie had always been the leader of their little family.

[Star Laura]

Jamie loved horses. You know, she was an avid horseback rider. I remember one she wrote about a horse. She wrote Running Wild and Living Free in the Wild. My Banderby, that was the name of her horse. Banderby, she called it.

[Carolyn Osorio]

The girls yearned to be adopted and Jamie was thrilled when they were sent to live with a couple looking to adopt who also had a horse farm. But Jamie, wise beyond her years, knew trouble when she saw it.

[Star Laura]

And she said, I just saw him beating his horse. She said we are not staying here. She just saw that as something we wouldn't tolerate. And I never saw it, but you.

Know, of course I believed her.

Whatever she said kind of went anyway. We told our caseworker Janine Gillis that we did not want to stay there. And so at that point they kind of gave up on having us adopt.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Then the unthinkable happened. 16 year old Jamie Grissom went missing. And her little sister Star has never stopped looking for her in a 50 year investigation. The things she would uncover in her quest to find her sister are shocking.

[Star Laura]

I just felt like I'D been kicked in the stomach because I thought, how can you lose a person's remains?

[Carolyn Osorio]

I'm Carolyn Osorio. You're listening to episode seven of Stolen Voices of Dole Valley, the Squeaky Wheel.

[Lindsay Arnold]

I think when you listen to her story, she's just saying, I want my sister. And I think her perseverance through all of this is this whole story, too. She never gave up.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Never giving up. That's a huge theme of this story, as was the rope Warren Forrest used to bind his victims into total submission. In the beginning of this series, we described the simplicity of natural rope, just a combination of fibers braided together, which Forrest then used as a deadly weapon against his victims. The physical rope. Norma Jean Countryman had chewed through every single strand, one by one, to survive. She never gave up. But afterwards, even though she'd escaped her bonds, she never felt free. For the next 50 years, she still felt hogtied and gagged, psychologically and emotionally bound to Warren Forrest and his other victims, too, because after she escaped, when she was just 15 years old, she wouldn't be believed. Then came the crushing weight of survivor's guilt in her mind. If she'd been able to convince investigators that she was telling the truth, other young women wouldn't have died. Norma felt alone in her grief, as if she'd been unraveled to a single, single thread, left dangling. Would there ever be justice for the other victims whose unsolved cases had grown cold? She wanted some kind of resolution. And if she couldn't have that, she wanted people to know who Warren Forrest was and what he'd done to her and to the others. What Norma didn't realize then was that she wasn't alone. There were other loose threads left hanging by the deeds of a suspected serial killer who had escaped justice, like Starr, Jamie's sister, who wanted answers too quiet, unassuming Star, who over the decades had essentially been ignored by investigators. But after 30 years, it is Star who began picking up all the loose threads in this investigation and started weaving them together.

[Star Laura]

There wasn't a lot of information out in the media about forrest. We had six to 18 girls, young women that disappeared, and all these families waiting for justice and waiting for answers. And Forrest being the first serial killer of our town, and nobody even knew.

[Carolyn Osorio]

At the time, Starr was living in Portland A, across the river from Vancouver, Washington. She was watching the news when she saw a reporter, Dan Tilkin, covering a story about an unidentified Jane Doe. The Clark County Sheriff's office issued a press release asking for the public's help in identifying the skeletal remains of the so called Fly Creek victim recovered in 1980 about 15 miles from Dole Valley. Starr wondered was it possible the unidentified young woman was her sister? She reached out to Dan, who offered to do a story about her quest to find Jamie.

[Star Laura]

When I first met Dan, it was at our home in Hillsborough. He brought his cameraman. I remember the cameraman kind of being in the back corner of the dining room.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Star was a ball of nerves as she shared the photos displayed on her dining room table with Dan. Images of Jamie and the sisters together growing up. The only physical connection she had left of her sister.

[Star Laura]

I remember the bright lights of the television camera and Dan was sitting in front of me. I instantly had a connection with him.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Starr explained that authorities had long suspected that Jamie was Warren Forrest's first murder victim in Washington state. How Forrest had been about 23 years old when he moved back to Clark county after being discharged from the military.

[Star Laura]

He understood the story and how important it was, what happened to Jamie and how she is connected to forest.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Sitting across from Star, Dan recognized something special within her.

[Dan Tilkin]

Dar had known that there was a set of bones that were around the time that Jamie disappeared. And Star is tenacious, very sweet, very soft spoken, but don't let that fool you.

[Carolyn Osorio]

I. I hear you.

[Dan Tilkin]

She is preaching, yes. She is determined to try and find answers for Jamie.

[Star Laura]

And I remember him asking me about Jamie and that day.

[Carolyn Osorio]

That day Star is referring to the day Jamie never came home. The last day she saw her sister alive.

[Star Laura]

He seemed to care that that was important, that people knew what happened and he was just easy to talk to. You know, I told him the story of the day she disappeared and what that was like and what had happened about the ID and how I came to get that.

[Carolyn Osorio]

So I need to unpack a few things here. A circumstantial thread connecting Jamie's disappearance to Dole Valley and Warren Forest was her student ID and other belongings found near the Rock Creek Bridge. These items had been recovered five months after she went missing. Based on Forrest's M.O. it's believed that he'd been able to schmooze Jamie into his car. He hadn't bought his blue van yet. According to Starr, she wasn't told that her sister's belongings were found in Doll Valley. In fact, she wouldn't hear from law enforcement until she was 19. Almost five years after Jamie disappeared, two.

[Star Laura]

Detectives came to see me. And I remember it like yesterday. And I was just in shock because that's when they told me about her belongings and where they had found them.

[Carolyn Osorio]

And they were there not to tell you, but they were there to ask for her dental records.

[Star Laura]

Right. They came to ask for her dental records.

[Carolyn Osorio]

The detectives wanted to compare Jamie's dental records to the unidentified victim found in Dole Valley near the remains of Carol Valenzuela in 1974.

[Star Laura]

They told me about the two girls that were found not that far from where Jamie's belongings were found.

[Carolyn Osorio]

So that's when you first heard about the Dole Valley victims, was in 1976. And they wanted to see if the unidentified victim was your sister. After that visit from detectives, Starr was hit with two harsh realities. Until then, she'd been the only person in the world who'd been looking for Jamie. And the second thing, and that is.

[Star Laura]

The day that I knew she was not coming back alive. I knew it in my heart.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Jamie's dental records weren't a match for the unidentified Dole Valley victim, the young woman whose remains were found near Carol Valenzuela in 1974. If you'll recall, both murder victims were found in Dole Valley by hunters after Warren was arrested for his crimes against Susan, the Lacamas Lake victim. Jamie's belongings had been found several years before by the Rock Creek bridge in Dole Valley. After that, Star wouldn't hear from the sheriff's office for a couple more years.

[Star Laura]

They wanted my sister's dental records again. And I'm thinking to myself, don't you guys keep records of this?

[Carolyn Osorio]

You know, so they'd lost them.

[Star Laura]

Yeah, they didn't have it. And so I gave them what I knew about the dentist. And, yeah, I am not sure who the girl was they wanted to talk to me about.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Starr heard from investigators two years later in 1980, she was visiting a relative in California, one. When a motorcycle cop pulled up demanding that she called the Clark County Sheriff's office immediately.

[Star Laura]

So I called the detectives, and again, they wanted to know about her dental records.

[Carolyn Osorio]

They lost them again?

[Star Laura]

Yeah, they didn't have the information.

[Carolyn Osorio]

So in 1980, they were probably reaching out to you because of the Fly Creek victim. That's when she was found.

[Star Laura]

And then that's the last I'd heard from them.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Now, it's not unusual for law enforcement to hold back information from family members to protect the integrity of an investigation. But remember, it wasn't a secret that Warren Forrest was suspected of being a serial killer. And by the mid-1970s, Jamie's name had been added to the list as potentially being his first murder victim. In Clark County. And there was not an ongoing active investigation into Jamie's disappearance to protect. When they reached out to you in 1976 and then in 1977 and then in 1980, they never told you that your sister was on a list of suspected victims of Warren Forrest? Because they collated that by then.

[Star Laura]

No.

[Carolyn Osorio]

They didn't tell you any of that?

[Star Laura]

No. That's the first time anybody alluded to that they thought Jamie was dead. He believed that a road had been paved over where she was buried and that they would never find her, is what he told me back in, like, 89.

[Carolyn Osorio]

And that's when you first heard the name Warren Forrest?

[Star Laura]

No, he would not give me the name because he said, we know the creep that killed her. And, you know, after I hung up, you know, because I'm, like, kind of in shock at that point, I called him back and I left a message. I called back several times because I said, who is this guy? I would like to talk to him. What is his name? And I never got called back. And so I kind of got intimidated by it. Right. And I just gave up.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Star may have given up asking questions, but she would never give up on her sister. How could she? Childhood traumas cemented a love and devotion to each other in a way most people can't understand or even imagine. The girls had been let down by adults so many times, first by their parents and then by a myriad of guardians in foster care. Starr would never let her sister down, even in death.

[Star Laura]

In the early 2000s, I hit my 40s, and I just thought, I am going to find out what happened. They're not going to stop me this time.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Star wanted her sister's belongings that had been found on the side of the road in Dole Valley.

[Star Laura]

I knew they had Jamie's identification and a few things that they had found. And that bothered me a lot over the years.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Armed with an unstoppable determination, the love for her sister, and the confidence to do something about it. When Starr called the sheriff's office, an investigator finally gave her answers and a name, Warren Forrest.

[Star Laura]

And he was compassionate. And he told me, you know, I'm sorry, Star, nobody ever told you. But he said, we know. We know who killed your sister. Said, there's a whole crime synopsis on this guy. And I said, what? He said, yeah. He said, would you like a crime copy? And I said, yeah. And he said, star, I can send everything in her file. I'll. I'll mail it to you. And he did.

[Carolyn Osorio]

And that's when you Saw that case summary that was put together in March of 1978.

[Star Laura]

Yeah, I thought so. I'm not really crazy after all. I was in shock that nobody had ever told me. And because I was a kid, they thought that I didn't have a need to know.

[Carolyn Osorio]

I guess I reminded Star that she was 19 when investigators reached out to her for the first time, asking for dental records. But you were an adult, right?

[Star Laura]

They could have told me then.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Star was not Jamie's little sister anymore. She was in her 40s, old enough to be Jamie's mother at the time. After reading Jamie's case file, she became haunted by Warren Forrest and. And the details of what he'd done to his other victims. Now, I want to be clear. Jamie has never been found, and Warren Forrest has never been charged with her presumed murder. But in Starr's mind, he's her killer. And after reading the case summary of the suspected and known victims of Warren Forrest, Star became tortured by what she's imagined by Warren Forrest might have done to Jamie on her last day on Earth.

[Star Laura]

I think about that a lot, what she must have gone through and what her last moments were and how much she would have thought to the bitter end.

[Carolyn Osorio]

The not knowing has kept Star up at night imagining how Warren Forrest might have approached her sister. Was it when she was walking home from school on that cold, snowy winter day? Later, she found out Warren Forest was living just a couple miles away from the farmhouse where she and Jamie were living at the time of her disappearance. Had Warren Forest pulled up alongside Jamie, the day had been freezing, and Jamie was only wearing a light coat. Heat would have emanated from his car. Usually, Jamie never accepted rides from strangers. Had she looked into his startling blue eyes, took in his charismatic grin, and let her guard down on that day? Might he have driven her to the remote wilderness of Dole Valley, where he possibly tortured her? Shot darts from his pistol into her chest?

[Star Laura]

The terror of that really haunts me. And, you know, you think about that. What did she lay there and suffer after that in the cold? And if she stayed alive for a while, she would have froze to death out there overnight. And the suffering of that, knowing that it was probably hopeless for her to get out of there.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Did Warren Forest murder Jamie, then leave her out in the wilderness of Dole Valley to rot alone in the woods? Star is convinced he did. She believes that Jamie is still out there, silently calling out for her sister to come find her.

[Star Laura]

For Jamie, I wanted everybody to know who she was and what happened. And then it wasn't just her. It was all these other girls, too. And I just thought, this. This has to be told.

[Carolyn Osorio]

And once she decided that, there was no going back. Which is why when she saw Dan's story about the unidentified human remains of the Fly Creek victim, she was looking for more than help. She was looking for an ally.

[Dan Tilkin]

The sheriff's office put out a press release about some remains that they'd had for a long time, and they wanted to have a story done on it. So maybe they get some tips. It was a cold case, remember?

[Carolyn Osorio]

The Fly Creek victim was recovered roughly 15 miles away from Dole Valley.

[Dan Tilkin]

And so I did this story, and if I remember correctly, there was some images of maybe some teeth, and maybe there was a. An artist rendering of what the girl might have looked like. Generic white girl. I'll never forget it. I go back to my desk and my phone rings and I pick it up, and there's this woman on the other line who I've never met before, who said, hi, my name is Star Laura, and I think that's my sister.

[Carolyn Osorio]

In the 1980s, Star was told her sister's dental records weren't a match for the Fly Creek victim. But Jamie's dental records weren't X rays. All they had was her chart showing she'd had one one tooth extracted. And besides, they weren't in the 1980s anymore. It was the year 2006. Starr wanted the sheriff's office to compare her DNA to that of the Fly Creek girl. How long after you had read the article about the Fly Creek girl did you reach out to Dan Problems right away because you felt like the sheriff's office wasn't going to do anything?

[Star Laura]

Well, I just felt like it pays to advertise, you know?

[Carolyn Osorio]

So Dan does a story on Star's quest to find her sister, and Star got the DNA test. She wanted to find out if the Fly Creek Jane Doe was her sister. She wasn't. Eventually, the Fly Creek victim was identified as Sandra Morden. Sandra went missing after Warren Forest was sent to prison. He is not considered a suspect in her still unsolved murder.

[Star Laura]

From then on, I filled him in whenever I could on things and he always tried to do on the news show about what was going on with Jamie's case and DNA tests.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Star wasn't alone anymore. She had Dan. And through his storytelling, people in the community started to connect with Jamie and the girls whose voices had been stolen, who were still waiting for justice.

[Dan Tilkin]

It's that proverbial pulling on a thread of a sweater, and it all comes in. The more you pull on it, the more you get. I had some people share documents with me and then you realize, oh, this guy is suspected of doing this and doing this and doing this and this. And they're like, well, that's serial killer stuff.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Stuff. This message is sponsored by Green Light. I absolutely love it when I see a meme about newbie parents saying something to the effect of yeah, it's so much easier now for you because your kids are getting older. And I'm thinking right, in my experience, not so much. Don't get me wrong, toddler years are something else. But next level parenting as they get older isn't a cakewalk because you're really teaching kids how to be adults. And that's where Greenlight comes in. Greenlight is a debit card and money app made for families and it's really fun because kids can play games that teach money skills. And then there's also a chores feature which adults can play. You can set up a one time or or recurring chore based on your family's needs and then you're basically rewarding kids with a job well done. And let's be honest, you get paid with a more organized household. As a Gen Xer, I wish Greenlight was around when I was a kid as a true primer for the real world. I mean, sure, we were out playing until the street lights came on, but I never made the connection back then that saving money would help me build my dreams. Chores were work with a specific goal in mind, immediately spend exactly what I'd earned. And until Greenlight came into my life, I didn't realize I was teaching my kids the same exact thing. So Greenlight is the easy, convenient way for parents to raise financially smart kids and for families to navigate life together. Maybe that's why millions of parents trust and kids love learning about money on Greenlight, the number one family finance and safety app. Don't wait, wait to teach your kids real world money skills. Start your risk free Greenlight trial [e-mail] stolen voices that's greenlight.com stolen voices to get started greenlight.com stolenvoices.

[Dan Tilkin]

Should I get my computer which has all my materials on it as a to reference here or just do that later?

[Carolyn Osorio]

I mean, I want to start off basically with how you came to the case because you've been on it for so long or were on it for so long and just kind of start there.

[Dan Tilkin]

Yeah, I was funny.

[Carolyn Osorio]

I Dan recently retired. He was a reporter for 30 years, mostly in the Portland Vancouver area. He was also a News anchor for CoinTV. And if @ some point as we're talking, you want to go get your files and show me what you got, I'd love to see it. I mean, I was kind of surprised that you offered it up with the thumb drive.

[Dan Tilkin]

I was like, it's not doing me any good.

[Carolyn Osorio]

It's just very generous. Okay, if you didn't get the amazement in the tone of my voice, let me explain this. Sharing of files amongst journalists is not the norm. Usually reporters are competitors and the last thing they want to do is give away their scoop. But on that day, Dan and I were sitting across from each other at his quaint kitchen table next to a large picture window. Outside, the sun was shining brightly. It was fall 2024. As I looked out the window, taking in the expanse of Dan's beautiful horse farm, I found myself fighting to hold back the emotion I was feeling. I was meeting Dan for the first time, but for me, I felt like we'd met a long time ago. Through my conversations with Star.

[Star Laura]

When Dan told me that he could look out towards Dole Valley from his horse farm and he would think about Jamie, he prayed for her to be found and, and he would think of that often. And that really touched me. I thought out of all the reporters, that would have meant a lot to Jamie to know that somebody like that, that loves horses, cared enough to keep this story out there and that he actually cared and thought about Jamie and. Yeah, that still chokes me up.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Do you think of her riding Banderby out there?

[Star Laura]

I think her spirit's out there now.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Looking across from Dan, we made eye contact and I could see little dust particles floating in the air. It was a very pleasant atmosphere, a direct contrast to what we were there to discuss. I'd waited a long time for this moment. Dan had worked on the Warren forrest investigation for 20 years. Following the breadcrumbs, I knew how vital his reporting was to the case. How together he and Starr had played a huge, though in my opinion, an underplayed role in a series of events that led to a breakthrough in the Warren Forest investigation. But I slow rolled the conversation. I wanted to start at the beginning with Star's first call to Dan about his report on the Fly Creek victim.

[Dan Tilkin]

She says, my sister's been missing for years and I think that might be her. I couldn't quite wrap my head around it and I'm like, well, who are you? What's your name? What's your sister's name? And I'd love to do a story on it. And a little bit of me, maybe a lot of bit of me was skeptical because people just don't go missing young women and not be talked about. It just doesn't happen.

[Carolyn Osorio]

So you hadn't heard of Warren Forest? You hadn't heard of Jamie Grissom? Who, Starr's sister?

[Star Laura]

No.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Which is kind of crazy in and of itself because you're an investigative reporter covering that area.

[Dan Tilkin]

I hadn't heard of, of any of these people. And that's kind of what made me skeptical, is because things don't happen in a vacuum. But then I found out they don't happen in a vacuum. Now, back then, things happened in a vacuum a lot. People were allowed to disappear and did disappear. It was a completely different world. People would go off hitchhiking. Of course. There's no cell phones, there's no email, there's only letters if somebody decided to write them. This is, you know, after the 1960s, the hippie movement, the people were out exploring their going all over the country.

[Carolyn Osorio]

And this is what so many of my interviewees would say about the missing girls. It was the 70s. That's just how it was. Or more accurately, that's how it was for some girls. An all too familiar story.

[Dan Tilkin]

And if you grew up in maybe a troubled home or a foster home, you could just disappear and nobody would go looking for you because that's just the way things were.

[Carolyn Osorio]

If Jamie was from a middle class family, her disappearance would have likely been breaking news. Volunteers showing up in droves to search the woods near the farmhouse where Jamie and Star were living. Flyers likely would have been posted around town with reward offered for information. But the airwaves were silent when Jamie vanished. And now, 50 years later, how would any of us feel if our mother, sister or daughter's missing persons report had been handled the way Jamie Grissom's disappearance had been? Her social worker was turned away at the sheriff's office the night she went missing.

[Dan Tilkin]

One of the fascinating things about Jamie's disappearance is she disappears on disposal December 7th. There isn't a missing persons report filed for her until over a month later. Back then you had to wait a month before you could file a missing persons report. Jamie isn't officially missing until January 12, 1972, and she had already been gone for almost five weeks by then.

[Carolyn Osorio]

And it's almost hard to believe that because she was a minor, there was no news reporting her being missing. I feel like that's shocking. And there would be more shocking revelations to come When Dan did a deep dive into Warren Forest's background, he couldn't find any news footage related to his trial and mistrial back in the late 1970s.

[Dan Tilkin]

One of the things that's so bizarre about this case is there's almost no record of him being covered in the news when he was doing his thing. The only people that seemed to cover Warren Forest was the Columbia newspaper. They have newspaper articles, but there's nothing else. So I've worked for two different Portland TV stations and I have done deep dives through their archives. I have looked and I have looked and I have looked and there is nothing.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Dan mentioned Portland TV stations because Vancouver, Washington residents got their local news from across the river in Portland.

[Dan Tilkin]

There is no record at either of the TV stations that I've worked at. And I have to believe there's nothing at the other two Portland TV stations because if there was, they would have used the video, they would have used the stories from back then. I don't know that any Portland TV station ever covered Warren Forrest, despite the horrible things he did.

[Carolyn Osorio]

How is that possible? Warren Forrest grew up in Clark County. His mistrial alone was estimated to have cost taxpayers to $250,000, the equivalent of more than $1.1 million today. How did that not capture the interest of local TV stations? And with a little digging, a good reporter would have realized that the Clark County Sheriff's office believed Warren Forrest was a serial killer. That in and of itself was salacious.

[Dan Tilkin]

But no, anybody who has a woman that they cherish, this is worth. Worst case scenario, she gets in a van with a man she doesn't know who then does horror movie things to her. And the fact that it wasn't covered and didn't get much attention is just mind boggling.

[Carolyn Osorio]

For the next five years, Dan was committed to getting the story out there as much as he could.

[Dan Tilkin]

With Star's cooperation. We just kept doing more and more stories, stories and trying to figure out why this had been forgotten, why nothing had happened. At some point, I dubbed Warren Forest the forgotten serial killer, because that's what he is. Absolutely nobody knew who he was. He's been in prison for all these years. With all these bodies attributed, to him existing in a no man's land, it.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Things would get even stranger. Six years after Dan's initial story on Jamie, he received a call from Star that would change everything.

[Dan Tilkin]

She's like, they've lost, they've lost the bones. They've lost the bones, they've lost the bones. I'm like, what do you what? What are you. What are you talking about? She's like, there's the girl. They had the last set of remains, and they've lost them.

[Carolyn Osorio]

In 2012, Starr had an epiphany. Remember the unidentified Jane Doe found alongside Carol Valenzuela in Dole Valley? The fact that she was still unidentified in a modern world with DNA as a crime fighting tool? Well, what if the sheriff's office had been wrong? It wasn't as if they hadn't been before. What if the Dole Valley Jane Doe was her sister?

[Star Laura]

I emailed Detective Buckner and I said, you know, how about digging up this unidentified girl and doing a DNA test? And he didn't respond. You know, so I waited a week, sent him another one. He didn't respond. And then I sent him another one, and he didn't respond. And so I emailed him and I said, well, you know, my friends say I should start a petition to dig her up. He immediately called me and he said, starr, we don't have her remains. I said, what do you mean you don't have her remains?

[Carolyn Osorio]

Starr called the one person she had come to trust in these matters implicitly, Dan Tilkin.

[Dan Tilkin]

She tells me that she's been trying to get the sheriff's office to get those bones, do a DNA sample on them, compare it to her own DNA, and figure out if that's Jamie. Well, then the sheriff's office lost the bones, and Starr was absolutely beside herself. So being a reporter, I mean, what do you mean? How do you lose. How do you lose a body? I call the sheriff's office, and they admit to me that they've lost the bones. I found a notation in there that they had bones had been sent to a Dr. Snow in 1977. So I just started making phone calls. It turns out that Dr. Clyde Snow is perhaps the most famous forensic anthropologist, very, very well known. He's been in the news a lot. Then the next thing is, is Dr. Snow still alive?

[Carolyn Osorio]

Dan found out that the answer was yes. Not only did Dr. Snow say he mailed the remains back, but. But he still had the UPS receipt from 1978, which he mailed to Starr, who in turn sent it to the medical examiner's office.

[Star Laura]

So I called her, and she said, okay, Starr, this proves that we did have it. She said, give me a couple months. I will find her.

[Dan Tilkin]

And eventually, 2012, I got an email from the medical examiner's office saying that they had found the remains and they had had them the entire time.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Dan shared the letter with Me, it was a long one with a lot of excuses. But the short version, the remains were never lost. The unidentified Dole Valley victim's bones had been placed in Carol Valenzuela's evidence packet.

[Dan Tilkin]

A lot of the things that Warren Force did were so unbelievable. You think that, well, this person's not telling the truth. This couldn't have happened. And so I had this long email from the medical examiner's office explaining that they had lost the bones, they had found the bones, and the reasons why they had lost the bones and found the bones. And. And it lays the blame at the lack of coordination through the years of holding evidence. And I have talked to enough people where I actually believe that's true, where I think it was just a lack of facilities and processes that led to this bad scenario.

[Carolyn Osorio]

And it's interesting. Dan gets this long letter explaining how the Dole Valley victim's remains ended up in Carol Valenzuela's murder file. Meanwhile, Starr was hopeful it was a long shot that the remains belonged to her sister. Either way, she wanted to make sure the medical examiner's office was doing their job to identify the bones through DNA. But when she reached out, her efforts were rebuffed.

[Star Laura]

She said, star, no matter where the remains are, it's not Jamie. So it's really none of your business. Oh, did that make me mad. I was like, oh, excuse me. Whoever she is, she was killed by the same killer that killed my sister. So, yes, it is my business.

[Carolyn Osorio]

And Dan had made it his business, too.

[Dan Tilkin]

I fall into the squeaky wheel category. Think about these. These. These detectives and medical examiners who are spread so thin with the amount of work they have to do. And here's this reporter coming along and asking about a case that they haven't thought about in 40 years. And now because of this pesky reporter and Star, now I got to put attention to it. I feel for them.

[Carolyn Osorio]

To recap, Star and Dan's dogged persistence was the key in finding the lost unidentified remains that had been recovered in dole Valley in 1974. The next step in the 21st century was for the medical examiner's office to lead the charge in identifying the victim with DNA technology. In the meantime, at the sheriff's office, a young detective in the homicide unit hasn't been assigned to the lost girl's cases, but nonetheless finds herself haunted by their ghosts and stars, suffering.

[Lindsay Arnold]

You know, her sister's body has never been found. She did a really good job over the years trying to express her plight, trying to express her Frustrations, trying to express the story, and really just wanting people to listen to her and try and do what they should do based on their position. If you work for the sheriff's office, that's what you're entrusted to do. You should do that.

[Carolyn Osorio]

That's Lindsey Arnold. She was a homicide detective in 2009 at the Clark County Sheriff's office when she began to realize they had some cold cases that needed to be resolved.

[Lindsay Arnold]

I was in major crimes and at the time working regular homicide cases. And from a detective that I worked with, I had learned about multiple cases that were unsolved but attributed to one person.

[Carolyn Osorio]

That person was Warren Forest. Lindsay wasn't the type to ignore what was literally right in front of her face. Boxes that contained murder investigations that had long gone cold.

[Lindsay Arnold]

12 by 14 size box, and there's writing on the outside, and they're stuffed under cubicles and in closets. And I would find time or would get tired of working a case, writing a report, and I started pulling these cases out and realized there was more than one.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Lindsay went to her mentor, Detective Rick Buckner, about these missing and murdered young women whose deaths had long been attributed to a man named Warren Forrest.

[Lindsay Arnold]

He starts to tell me, oh, he's good for, you know, a bunch of different ones. And that really was the hook for me was, what do you mean? He's good for a bunch of other ones, really. The rest was history. Once you start finding this guy was, in that word, serial killer, he had killed multiple women or had been believed to have killed multiple women. I thought, we, we need to. We need to find out something. And another hook on that was Star. Laura had always been in contact with Rick Buckner. And when Rick left, there was kind of a transfer between Rick and I with Star. And then I started to learn more and more about Jamie Grissom and the stories of the. The rest of the gals, too.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Lindsay understood that the sheriff's office was understaffed, but still, she couldn't wrap her head around the fact that over the last 30 years, the Clark County Sheriff's office had let their foot off the gas in connecting Forrest to the other cases, even though they suspected he was a serial killer, and even though they knew there were unsolved cases related to this potential serial killer and that someday he could come up for parole. Even so, the stolen voices he was suspected of silencing, their cases went cold. Their cries for justice went unheard.

[Lindsay Arnold]

I think new cases come along. Detectives rotate in, detectives rotate out. The story, you know, doesn't get told. And so this person's murder just goes into an archive box or goes into a binder or goes into a shelf.

[Carolyn Osorio]

And there was Star, whose story had touched her deeply.

[Lindsay Arnold]

I talked to Star and then this, you know, really professional but also very genuine relationship starts between Star and I, which I think when you listen to her story, she's just saying, I want my sister. And I think her perseverance through all of this is this whole story too. She never gave up.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Lindsay started working the cases herself, but realized it was a task too big for just one person. She needed help, which is why she wanted to create a cold case squad for the Clark County Sheriff's office. What she wasn't expecting was pushback from within her own department.

[Lindsay Arnold]

I've learned over the years, you can't expect anyone to have the same passion that you do. It just seems so basic and elementary to me. You have unsolved cases that probably deserve the most attention. And as I was working in active cases, I started to carve away on these cold cases and thought, this is a full time job. So there was just an obvious need of cases that when I would look through them, I thought, this seems like it could be solved.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Fortunately, Lindsay had a mentor outside of the sheriff's office. He helped her put together a proof of concept for a cold case squad. She also sent letters to retired investigators asking if they'd be willing to help out. But the biggest hurdle was getting the stamp of approval from within the sheriff's office. The way you were treated doesn't feel right either. When you're just trying to do the best for these victims, the survivors and their families, it seems like, why would that rub people the wrong way?

[Lindsay Arnold]

I can't say it any better than you just did. It's as simple as it is.

[Carolyn Osorio]

I want to pause here. I knew that Lindsay had been through a lot trying to get this cold case squad up and running. When I talked with her, I could see and feel the emotion was still there, raw and unprocessed. I also know from my experience interviewing law enforcement on the record and sources who wanted to remain anonymous, that within these organizations, speaking out about what you've experienced or witnessed, especially if you're a woman in a very male dominated field, could be a career damaging proposition. So out of respect for this reality, I wanted to give Lindsay space to come to her own decision about saying more.

[Lindsay Arnold]

I think God wired me a certain way to, you know, you have a chance to be a voice that are can't speak for themselves anymore. Right. But that there were times where you're trying to champion the cause and people are looking at you. They just leave it alone. It was always hard for me. I thought, why am I asking 16 different times for you to have a meeting? I'm just asking for a meeting. Can we do the cold case unit? And I did all the work so that supervisors and other people didn't have to. I did all the research. I did everything, almost like handing it to them. Like, can we just get the stamp of approval? But it was hard.

[Carolyn Osorio]

And remember Denny Hunter, the retired prosecutor who helped convict Warren Forrest for Christa Blake's murder? Denny was at the top of Lindsay's list to join the cold case squad investigating the cases that Warren Forrest was suspected of. Jamie Grissom, Barbara Derry, Gloria Knudsen, Carol Valenzuela, and the unidentified Jane Doe found near Carol Valenzuela in Dole Valley.

[Lindsay Arnold]

So Denny really is kind of the unsung hero in this entire story.

[Carolyn Osorio]

Next time on Stolen Voices of Dole Valley, another thread. She always said, you know, she just wants to know where her baby went, you know, And I was given the command and I said that I would do it was to find my sister. From your mom? Yeah, from my mom before she died. If you have information about the case, please call the Clark County Sheriff's Office tip line at 564-397-2847. For more on Stolen Voices of Dole Valley, including pictures, or to contact the show, find us on social@stolen voicespod or visit our website stolenvoicespod.com and if you like the show, please give us a five star rating and a review. It really helps us get discovered, of course. Tell your friends and be sure to follow us so you don't miss an episode. You can also support us by subscribing to Lemonada Premium, available right now in your podcast player. Lemonada Premium unlocks exclusive bonus episodes. Stolen Voices of Dole Valley is researched, written and hosted by me, Carolyn Osorio. Production, sound design and mixing by Trent Sell. Produced for Pie in the Sky Media by Brandon Morgan. My personal thanks to Ben Kiebrick for his thoughtful and inspired edits. A special thanks to Dave Colley, Amy Donaldson, Andrea Smarten, Ryan Meeks and Jenny Ament. Main musical score composed by Alison Layton Brown with Lemonada Media executive producers Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Wittleswax and for KSL Podcasts, executive producer Cheryl Worsley. Stolen Voices of Dole Valley is a production of Pie in the Sky Media, KSL Podcasts and Lemonada Media SA.