Leanna Mae Pitts was a deeply respected and admired administrator at the University of Oregon, where her colleagues knew her as an amazing person and supervisor whose loss left them heartbroken. The 52-year-old female was the director of work management and administrative support for the university's Campus Planning and Facilities Management team, a position she had grown into over a decade of service that began in 2016.
Before her time at UO, she had also worked for eight years at Oregon State University. A university spokesperson said Leanna was "much loved, admired, and respected," and that "This is a huge loss and those who loved her are heartbroken."
Beyond her professional life, Leanna had a long history of community and faith-based service. She had a personal connection to the organization now known as Adult & Teen Challenge; her father, Mike Hodges, had been a national leader, and her brother, Chris Hodges, ran the regional operation. From 1999 to 2008, Leanna worked with Teen Challenge Pacific Northwest. In 2006, she and her husband, Gregory Pitts, were featured in a local news report about their efforts to open a thrift store in Springfield to fund a residential treatment center for teenagers struggling with substance abuse.
The morning of Thursday, October 1, 2026, shattered the peace of a quiet, wooded neighborhood in south Eugene. At 9:06 a.m., Eugene Police Department officers were dispatched to conduct a welfare check at a residence in the 5400 block of Fox Hollow Road. Inside the home, they discovered Leanna Mae Pitts deceased. An investigation determined she had been killed by gunfire. As detectives worked the scene, police vehicles lined the road, and the home, set back from the street behind a privacy fence, was cordoned off with crime tape.
Neighbors were stunned by the police activity. One woman who lived next door recalled hearing a couple of loud bangs the night before, which she had dismissed as the sound of wood hitting the ground. The next morning, she was awoken by an officer at her door and saw the police tape next door. She was told there had been a domestic dispute and someone was deceased. Other neighbors described the area as beautiful and peaceful and were shocked to see the crime scene tape. Many knew Leanna's husband as a kind and helpful man who built bird feeders and a community free-exchange box. One neighbor said he had helped her during a power outage and built a fence for her, stating, "I would have never expected something like this to happen... You don't know what happens behind closed doors."
By the early afternoon of October 1, Eugene police announced they had a suspect in custody and that there was no further threat to the community. The suspect was identified as Leanna’s husband, 55-year-old Gregory Allen Pitts. Investigators stated that Gregory used a gun to kill his wife inside their home, where the couple lived together. He was arrested the same day and booked into the Lane County Jail.
Gregory Allen Pitts was indicted by a grand jury in Lane County Circuit Court on charges of second-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon. During his arraignment on October 16, 2026, he pleaded not guilty to both charges. The University of Oregon released a statement mourning Leanna's death and expressing condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues. "Our thoughts are with her family, friends, and colleagues during this incredibly difficult time," a spokesperson said, adding that the university was making support available to employees affected by the tragedy.
As of November 2026, the case against Gregory Pitts was proceeding through the justice system, with a pre-trial conference scheduled for November 9. He remained in custody at the Lane County Jail while awaiting trial.
