On May 26, 1977, 15-year-old Karen Jean Lee vanished from Cornelius, Oregon. A teenager with brown hair and brown eyes, she had distinctive scars on her upper lip and left knee. Karen had recently moved to Oregon from Wisconsin and was reportedly having a difficult time adjusting. She and a 14-year-old male companion, Rodney Grissom, made plans to run away from home and hitchhike to California. Rodney was last seen two days prior to Karen's disappearance, on May 24, 1977.
The last known communication from the pair was a phone call Karen made to a friend from a payphone in Lebanon, Oregon. During the call, she was heard saying, 'Our ride is here. I have to go,' before the line went dead. They were never heard from again.
Later that year, a significant discovery was made in a remote, rugged area off a logging road near Soda Fork in eastern Linn County. Some of Karen and Rodney's belongings were found bundled in a blanket and tied with a rope. The location was described by police as being in 'very bad terrain where no sane person would go for a hike or to camp'. The collection of items seemed to have been deliberately placed there and included Karen's jeans, which appeared to have been cut, pages from her journal, a blouse she had sewn, and one of her shoes that was still laced and tied. Rodney's watch and other personal items were also among the belongings. In 1982, more of their clothing, along with Rodney's wallet and identification, were discovered by loggers in the same general vicinity.
The circumstances surrounding Karen and Rodney's disappearance strongly suggest foul play. While Karen had a history of running away once before for a few days, the discovery of their personal effects in such a desolate location, and the condition of some of the items, points to a more sinister conclusion. The investigation into their disappearance has spanned decades and remains an open and unsolved case with the Hillsboro Police Department. The disappearance of the two teenagers has been linked by some, including Karen's mother, to other cold cases in the region along Highway 20, though no definitive connections have been proven. The case of Karen Jean Lee and Rodney Grissom is a haunting story of two young people who set out on an adventure, only to vanish without a trace, leaving behind a few scattered clues in the dense Oregon wilderness.Last Seen: May 26, 1977
