Here are the basics of this case, which is unfolding in Oregon (about 25 miles south of Portland). A mother goes out to run errands around 5:45pm. She withdraws a small amount of money at 6pm, then gases up her car at 6:10pm. She pulls out of the gas station — police believe alone — and at 6:25pm, her cell phone stops working. This happened about five-six days ago and she hasn’t been seen since. Her husband seems like a good guy — he’s clearly an emotional wreck and is said to be fully cooperating with police — but of course, he has to be the first person cleared. He makes a semi-weird comment that people online with no criminal justice background (i.e. myself) try to interpret:
Heartbreaking. Kallen Huston: "I have a feeling maybe she's in a ditch somewhere" #findjenniferhuston #liveonk2
— Lia Launtz (@LiaLauntz) July 28, 2014
Then there’s this curious thing, which leads you to believe that it could be a medical issue ultimately:
Police and family make another plea for tips. Kallen Huston said his wife has a three day headache prior to his wife's disappearance.
— Kasia Hall (@kasiahall) July 28, 2014
A little more on the headaches here:
Kallen Huston said his wife had recently suffered headaches, but that they didn’t seem to impact her daily activities. “She complained about headaches for three straight days. Not debilitating and didn’t keep her in bed. But she and I both thought it was a little odd.”
The amateur detectives on social media love to claim that the headaches are a red herring and Kallen himself had something to do with it; it doesn’t seem to fit. In fact, there was a case vaguely similar to this in Oregon about 12-18 months ago (possibly longer) — Whitney Heichel. At first, people were lobbing blame at the husband there. In fact, it was a neighbor in the complex. That could be the case here, but when you factor in the fact that she was out running errands, it looks more like a potential carjacking situation. At this point, there’s no known criminal link:
Update from Police: There is no known criminal link in the case of a missing Dundee Mom.http://t.co/54VhcVYxlv
— FOX 12 Oregon (@fox12oregon) July 29, 2014
It appears the cell phone was turned off in this case; we don’t have context around the battery life or whether she regularly didn’t keep a phone charged (many people I know don’t), nor do we (as the public; I’m sure law enforcement does) have context around the errands she was intending to run. If they analyze the various tapes of that route, they can likely discover a lot more.
This bears some resemblance to the Jessica Heeringa case, which I believe is still currently unsolved. And just like it doesn’t seem that Jonathan Corwin was ultimately involved in the disappearance of Erin Corwin, so too I don’t think Kallen Houston is involved here — although stranger things have indeed happened.
I think Kallen Huston can be given a fair trial.