White/Caucasian. On September 9, 2015, Vera June Converse, age 54, a female from Albany, Oregon, was found dead inside a residence on Scravel Hill Road NE, east of town. Deputies responding to calls discovered the 54-year-old woman with an apparent gunshot wound inside the home at 385 Scravel Hill Road. News reports and memorial listings identified the victim as Vera June Converse, age 54, and placed the scene at that address outside Albany.
Investigators quickly focused on a man known to the victim. According to the Linn County Sheriff’s Office accounts carried by local outlets, 57-year-old William Russell McDonald called 9-1-1 and reported that he had killed his ex-wife. Deputies arrested him that same day on charges of murder and felon in possession of a firearm. Authorities also noted that the pair had divorced in 1994, and that about five years before the killing, McDonald had moved an RV onto the property to help care for the 54-year-old woman.
Records summarizing the incident list the relationship as significant others—current or former—and mark the 57-year-old male as arrested, with the 54-year-old female victim killed by gunfire. A memorial page likewise records the loss to gun violence on the date of the killing in Albany.
Public obituary notices confirm the identity of the 54-year-old woman and her date of death in Albany on September 9, 2015. Those notices do not address the criminal proceedings but align with law-enforcement accounts regarding the victim’s name, age, and location.
