Account
Sep 16, 2014
May 26, 2023
John
Adkins
68
53
71 inches
175 lbs
White / Caucasian
Male
In the summer of 2009, a Fourth of July weekend trip took a dark turn, leaving a family searching for answers that would slowly and disturbingly come to light. John Curtis Adkins, a 53-year-old man from Albany, Oregon, embarked on what should have been a routine trip. He, along with two other men, set sail on his 48-foot fishing vessel, the 'Tiger', from Garibaldi, Oregon, with their destination being Ilwaco, Washington. The purpose of the journey was to have the boat dry-docked for repairs. John was last seen in the early morning hours of July 5th at a tavern in the Port of Ilwaco area. He had spoken to his family earlier that day, but after that, all communication ceased. Concern grew when he failed to show up to have his boat pulled from the water for the scheduled repairs, an act that was described as being out of character for him. His family officially reported him missing on July 7, 2009. The initial account given by his two companions, Walter Bremmer and Erin Dean Rieman, was that they waited for John to return to the boat, and when he didn't, they sailed the 'Tiger' back to Garibaldi without him. However, the narrative of a simple disappearance began to unravel as investigators delved deeper into the case. A significant breakthrough came when one of the men, Walter Bremmer, changed his story. Nine days after John was reported missing, Bremmer, who had since moved to Hawaii, provided a chilling new account to the police. He claimed to have witnessed Erin Rieman beat and then strangle John to death on the 'Tiger' on the night of July 5th. According to Bremmer, Rieman then threatened his life and the life of his girlfriend, coercing him into helping clean the boat with bleach and dispose of John's body at sea. This new testimony aligned with physical evidence found on the vessel, which included a broken window and the presence of both John's and Rieman's blood in the wheelhouse. The investigation culminated in the arrest of Erin Rieman in October 2009. He was subsequently charged with second-degree murder and first-degree theft in connection with John's disappearance. In a turn of events, Rieman initially admitted to the misdemeanor of disposing of a body at sea but denied committing the murder. He later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to eleven years in prison. At his sentencing, he made a cryptic statement, saying, "I did not take John's life, but nor did I protect it." The case took another bizarre twist when Walter Bremmer, the key witness who had been granted immunity for his testimony, was convicted of a murder in Hawaii in 2012 that also involved strangulation. Following this development, Rieman wrote to the prosecutor in his own case, asserting that Bremmer was the one who had actually killed John Adkins. Despite these conflicting accounts and the conviction of one of the men involved, the body of John Curtis Adkins has never been recovered. The case remains a haunting story of a fishing trip that ended in tragedy, leaving a family with unanswered questions and the enduring pain of loss.
Jul 04, 2009
Long Beach
Washington
Pacific County
No
15816
Oregon State Police
Springfield
Oregon
,
09-288003
Oregon State Police
Gray or Partially Gray
Green
Green
06/25/2026
