In a tragic event that unfolded in the spring of 2017, an eight-year-old Hispanic girl named Janet Duran-Cortinas, along with her older sister, became the victim of a devastating act of violence at the hands of their own father. The distressing chain of events began on the morning of April 12th when their mother made a frantic 911 call, reporting that her husband, 42-year-old Jaime Cortinas, had taken their daughters and was armed, suicidal, and threatening to harm them.
This desperate plea for help set off a search for the family's dark-colored Land Rover.
A police officer later spotted the vehicle in a gas station parking lot on the border of Portland and Gresham, Oregon. As the officer approached the SUV, Jaime Cortinas opened fire with a handgun before setting the vehicle ablaze with his two children, Janet and 11-year-old Jasmine Duran-Cortinas, still inside. In the ensuing confrontation with law enforcement, officers returned fire. However, an autopsy would later confirm that Jaime Cortinas's death was the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Tragically, by the time officers were able to smash the windows of the burning vehicle to rescue the children, both Janet and her sister were already deceased. The subsequent autopsies revealed that the two young girls had died from multiple gunshot wounds inflicted by their father before the fire was started. The incident left the local community in shock, with neighbors recalling the family as seemingly happy and expressing profound sadness for the futures that were stolen from the two young sisters. A memorial with candles and toys grew outside the family's apartment complex as community members mourned the loss of the two children. The suspect in the deaths of Janet and Jasmine Duran-Cortinas was their father, who died at the scene, leaving no possibility of an arrest or trial.
