Who murdered 29 year old Maximino Pena-Segura in 1987? On a quiet morning in Portland, Oregon, the first day of September in 1987, a caretaker at the Beth Israel Temple on NW Flanders Street made a grim discovery. Lying in the courtyard was the body of 29-year-old Maximino Pena-Segura, a Hispanic man. The tranquility of the early morning, just after 7:30 a.m., was shattered by the reality of a life cut short by violence.
An autopsy would later reveal that Pena-Segura had died from an apparent stab wound.
Investigators determined his death occurred sometime after 3:15 a.m. that morning. A citizen of Mexico, Pena-Segura was reportedly in the United States illegally, and there were suggestions he may have been involved in dealing drugs. The circumstances surrounding his presence in the temple courtyard in the pre-dawn hours remained a mystery.
Despite the passage of years, the case of Maximino Pena-Segura's death has grown cold. No arrests have ever been made in connection with his murder, and no suspects have been publicly identified. The story of what happened to him in the dark, early hours of that September day remains untold, leaving his death an unsolved chapter in the city's history. Law enforcement continues to seek information from the public, hoping that someone might still hold the key to bringing closure to this decades-old case.
