“Just Another Vehicle”

“…You go out there in the woods and there’s a [fire] lookout up there, you’re [sic] gonna see headlights out there, then they’re gonna call the police and they’re gonna come out and see what you’re doing. You go out in the daytime and they ain’t gonna think nothing of it.”

“Just another vehicle”

An exchange between John Ackroyd and Jim Salsberry, a Linn County Detective, during an interview on 11 March 1992. The subject was Ackroyd’s approach to poaching deer. Ackroyd frequently discussed poaching and hunting in his interrogations, and they can also be read as revelations about his murders.

John Ackroyd was profiled by the FBI as a “opportunity” killer. His MO is not entirely consistent from crime to crime, since each one had its own conditions and circumstances, but there are enough similarities between them that one can develop a theory for how a chance encounter with Karen and Rodney would have proceeded. This is not meant to be a profile of Ackroyd or a complete catalogue of his crimes. These are datapoints that I have used to develop my theory of the crime, which I am using to inform my search.

Ackroyd preyed on vulnerable young women. Of the known victims Marlene Gabrielsen was Native American; Elizabeth Mussler was poor, described by one Linn County Deputy as mentally handicapped and the photograph used by the Oregonian was an arrest mugshot from Benton County. Rachanda Pickle, his step-daughter was repeatedly failed by almost every adult in her short life and Melissa Sanders and Sheila Swanson were poor and ran with a rough crowd. Only Kaye Turner did not fit this general mold.

John Ackroyd was 5’10.5” and based on an undated, but probably contemporaneous photograph, a burly, barrel chested man probably closer to the heavier side of 225-250 pounds. A local to the Lebanon – Sweet Home area, he would have known the backroads, and would have a general knowledge of the work schedule of the logging industry.

Based on this, a 15 year old female, accompanied only by a 100 pound 14 year old male would have been an opportunity for Ackroyd.

Marlene Gabrielesen’s information is invaluable for two primary reasons. The first is she is the only known survivor of John Ackroyd. The second is that her assault occurred on June 12, 1977 or about 3 weeks after the disappearance of Karen and Rodney.

Marlene Gabrielsen recounted that the inside passenger door of his truck lacked both a door handle and a window crank. The door was only capable of being opened from the outside.

Marlene Gabrielsen also recounted that there was a rifle in the rear window rack and a sheath knife on the dashboard.

Marlene Gabrielsen stated that when he turned off of US 20 and onto the Santiam Wagon Road (a settlement era wagon trace through the Cascades), she asked what he was doing and he replied that he “had to take a leak”.

The summer before Kaye Turner’s murder, another woman in Camp Sherman later reported that Ackroyd pointed a pistol at her. He was also documented in police files as having a .22 caliber pistol.

Elizabeth Mussler and presumably Rachanda Pickle were buried in shallow graves. Elizabeth’s remains were discovered in a shallow grave, 325’ from the junction of Quartzville and Thistle Creek Roads above Green Peter Reservoir just outside Sweet Home. Rachanda has never been found, but “idle speculation” by Ackroyd indicated an internment of some sort.