The DA knew Ackroyd had changed his story and admitted he had talked to Kaye the morning he encountered her on a run. It was even alleged that John had been molesting Rachanda, although that remains mostly-unconfirmed years later. She said he threatened to do to me exactly what they did to Kaye Turner., REMEMBERING RACHANDA (Photo 1 of 4): Byron Pickle is 42 and lives in Aumsville with his wife and two children. Her mother left behind a short list of chores. Rachanda and her brother regularly went to school with bruises, and Rachanda told her friends Ackroyd had caused the injuries. The Oregonian/OregonLive went to court to lift a judge's order that had kept secret for years John Ackroyd's unusual plea deal in the death of his 13-year-old stepdaughter Rachanda Pickle. Rachanda Lea Pickle Missing since July 10, 1990 from Sweet Home, Linn County, Oregon. Time had fogged her memory, but on one point she was clear: The men ordered her to lie if police asked where they were that morning. However, the information that he was able to recall - such as her weight and bra size, as well as when she had started getting periods - didn't paint him in the most flattering light. A spokesman with the Linn County Sheriff's Office would dispute this allegation, claiming that there was no evidence indicating Rachanda had run away from home and had likely become a victim of foul play. One of John Ackroyds coworkers was working on Highway 20 the morning Rachanda disappeared. He said he came home during a break from work and asked Rachanda if she wanted to go for a ride with him. And now here he was, more than a decade later, having been the last known person to see his stepdaughter alive. One of Rachanda's dolls sits atop a shelf in the tidy manufactured home in California where her mother now lives. Beck and his wife lived in a trailer not far from Camp Sherman, where Kaye had disappeared. A police photograph shows evidence from the investigation into Kaye Turners murder. Speaking to the Albany Democrat-Herald in March of 1996, Rachanda's aunt, JoAnn Serdy would state: "Everything's hanging in limbo. These searches would continue over the next two weeks, but authorities were unable to uncover any trace of the missing 13-year-old. As part of their negotiations, prosecutors pressed Ackroyd to disclose her whereabouts; he refused to say. But Rachanda grew homesick and came back a few days before her disappearance. By early 1992, investigators were closing in on Ackroyd. The first time it was almost like he didnt want to be seen and the second time he was flamboyant, snapping pictures and waving, the coworker said. Ackroyd is a suspected serial killer: he's doing life right now for a 1978 murder (he was convicted in 1994), and is a suspect in two other women's disappearances besides Rachanda's. Later, the men told her that theyd mistaken Kaye for a deer and fatally shot her. He asked her if she wanted to go for a drive with him to go and take some pictures of deer in the nearby woods, but that she said no, claiming to have some chores to do around the house. When the dispatcher asked why she hadnt called sooner, Linda said she assumed she had to wait 24 hours to report a missing person. Details of plea deal in 1990 cold case killing finally revealed She didnt want to be alone with him. She wouldn't lie.". Turner, a 35-year-old that typically lived in Eugene, worked for the Lane County Office of Community Health and Social Services, but had previously worked for the area's Planned Parenthood Association and also happened to be a rather well-known runner. Pickle,Rachanda L.missing July 10,1990 - Porchlight International for Maybe it was the girls development, he told police, that drew a predator to the junction. In the months after Rachanda's disappearance, Rachanda's mother Linda would officially separate from her stepfather John, moving away to Portland. Ackroyd told authorities Rachanda was watching cartoons when he asked her if she wanted to go for a ride. Their clothes were spattered with so much blood that she got rid of Becks jeans and shirt. "Rachanda was. As police continued their search of the area around Rachanda's family's home, they would also continue an investigation of the people inside of it. Despite that, however, reporters with Oregon Live and the Oregonian have uncovered information that points to a long reign of terror for this one man, which extended far beyond his two known crimes. Her mother noticed the girls hairbrush, makeup and earrings were still there. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Her body has never been found. Sometime after he moved, Ackroyd was in his truck with the daughter of an old friend. You do what you need to do to keep a dangerous person incarcerated.". (Mark Ylen/Democrat-Herald). Sadly, searches of the area would be unable to come up with any answers; whatever had happened to Kaye Turner, she seemed to have disappeared into thin air. The responsibility of speaking for Rachanda rested with her brother, Byron Pickle. You were here with her.. In the early morning hours of July 10, 1990 John and Linda Ackroyd left their residence at the Oregon Department of Transportation shops at the Santiam Junction in east Linn County, Oregon. He rattled off the girls weight and bra size but couldnt remember her birthday. Ackroyd had driven to a state highway office in Bend, but returned home after only about an hour. Rachanda had one older brother named Byron, who was a little more than a year older than her, and the two would grow up with their mother, Linda, but would remain close to their father, whom they visited regularly. If that would have happened, I would not have any of my kids stay there any longer. But Rachandas distress was clear. Ackroyd was the last person to see the girl alive the morning she vanished in July 1990. 41-year-old John Arthur Ackroyd was suspected of involvement in this case very early on, simply because he was the last person to have seen Rachanda Pickle before she went missing. Maybe they just walked in, seen an opportunity and grasped at it.. Weeks after his death, prosecutors publicly acknowledged for the first time that Ackroyd had entered a plea in 2013 in the disappearance and presumed murder of Rachanda Pickle, his stepdaughter. He said he came home during a break from work and asked Rachanda if she wanted to go for a ride with him. However, on Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013 - nearly 23 years after his stepdaughter's disappearance - John Arthur Ackroyd would be charged with her murder by Linn County prosecutors. Their childhood friend, Michelle Seiber, said Rachanda wouldnt have dreamed of leaving behind her brother. He would be charged alongside his longtime friend, Roger Dale Beck, who was living in Porterville, California at the time. "The settlement reached a point where we were able to have the certainty that he would be in prison forever," Marteeny told The Oregonian/OregonLive. Since investigators had not yet uncovered any physical trace of Rachanda, they (along with prosecutors) were prepared to seek a case centered around a "no-body" homicide, which would require proof that the victim was no longer alive. Physical evidence proved he had been sexually abusing Rachanda prior to her disappearance. While Rachanda was home alone during this period, someone else would claim to see her a few hours after this. This is a photo from inside the Linn County Sheriff's Office file room. The more that investigators spoke with John Ackroyd, the more troubled they became. If she was going to plan to run away, she would have taken her makeup and her clothes, but nothing was missing. We still search for her. In 1978, Kaye Turner disappeared while on a morning run during a Christmas visit to isolated Camp Sherman. The men spent hours talking to Ackroyd. ", Rachanda and Byron Pickle were close. After Rachandas disappearance, Ackroyd was transferred out of Santiam Junction, where his connection to the case and his behavior made women uncomfortable. On Tuesday, July 10th, 1990 - just two days after returning home - Rachanda was woken up at about 5:00 AM by her mother. The couple married in the mid-1980s but divorced after a year. Over the course of the investigation, he acted strangely. He was convicted in Jefferson County of two counts of aggravated murder and three counts of murder in Turner's death. achanda Pickles stepfather could turn angry in a flash. She introduced the women to him and they climbed in. The home showed no signs of foul play. He knew it was Ackroyd who had eventually led police to her remains. He was arrested at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, where he is serving a life sentence for the murder of Kaye Turner on December 24, 1978 in Camp Sherman, Oregon. Sadly, for all of these cases - as was the case with his stepdaughter's disappearance - Ackroyd went to the grave with whatever answers he may have had. There was Ackroyd, standing at the back of his Ford pickup. Eight months later, Ackroyd reported finding her remains in the woods. Santiam murder suspect arrested - McKenzie River Reflections While this plea deal provided some kind of closure in the case, John Arthur Ackroyd was not required to provide any kind of proof in the murder case of Rachanda Pickle. Linn County Circuit Judge David Delsman granted the request. While he had always been a suspect for investigators, suspicion into him had seemed to wane after police came up empty-handed. Vacuum the house. Updated 10 times since October 12, 2004. That winter, Kaye and her husband, Noel, had decided to head up to a cabin in the Camp Sherman area. In signing onto this plea deal, John Ackroyd pleaded no contest to Rachanda's murder and agreed to not seek parole for Kaye Turner's murder and decline release even if he were to become eligible. She cried as she told one of them that she was terrified of returning to the junction alone. However, as recounted by family members, later on, she never ventured too far out into the woods unless she had her big brother Byron with her. We always believed Ackroyd had something to do with his stepdaughters murder, said Salsbery, who retired in 1996. Her parents reported her missing the next day. Ghosts of Highway 20 It was important to Ackroyd to have his plea sealed, prosecutors said. Facebook The young man, who worked as a mechanic for Oregon's Highway Division, lived at a maintenance company about twenty miles west of Camp Sherman. Cook said Rachanda once came to school with a black eye. But Rachanda Pickle's disappearance remained unsolved. Her mother noticed the girls hairbrush, makeup and earrings were still there. When he returned to the house at approximately 12:45 p.m., Rachanda had vanished. And on the morning she vanished, Rachanda asked her mother not to go to work. In fifth grade, something shifted.

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