Who murdered 49 year old Leoned Santiago in 1988? On a September day in 1988, a young woman's walk across the Hawthorne Bridge in Portland, Oregon, led to a grim discovery. The decomposing smell led her to look down, where she spotted what appeared to be a human arm beneath the south edge of the SE Water Avenue on-ramp. The authorities were called, and they soon unearthed the partially decomposed body of a man later identified as Leoned Joseph Santiago, a 49-year-old Hispanic male.
An autopsy would later reveal the brutal nature of his death; he had succumbed to a severe beating that left him with numerous broken bones.
Investigators learned that Santiago was a sailor and a civilian employee of the U.S. Navy. He was assigned to the USNS Andrew J. Higgens, which was in dry dock on Swan Island at the time. His shipmates last saw him alive on August 16, 1988, nearly three weeks before his body was found. When he left the ship, he was reportedly carrying a significant amount of cash. That money was gone when his body was discovered, and the scene where he was found was marked by a significant amount of blood spatter, attesting to the violence of his final moments.
The investigation into the homicide led police to a person of interest, a man named Matthew Delbert Loehr. When questioned, Loehr admitted to knowing Santiago but denied any involvement in his death. However, Loehr's own relatives cast doubt on his story, telling investigators that he had come into a sum of unexplained money around the time that Santiago was likely killed. Despite this, no arrests were made.
The case grew cold over the years, complicated by the fact that Matthew Delbert Loehr has since passed away from a drug overdose. With their primary person of interest gone, investigators have turned to the public for any lingering clues. They have expressed a desire to speak with anyone who knew Loehr, hoping he may have confided in someone about Santiago's death or perhaps mentioned the beating of another individual. The brutal death of Leoned Santiago remains officially unsolved, a cold case file still awaiting the piece of information that might finally bring it to a close.
