Site search
sponsored by
News
Sports
ENLARGE
Marty Condon speaks about his daughter Stephanie during a press conference at the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office in Roseburg, Ore., on Wednesday, March, 25, 2009. The Douglas County Sheriff, at left standing, announced at the press conference the identification of the human remains found near Glide, Ore., earlier this month as those of Condon's daughter Stephanie Condon, a 14-year-old who disappeared while babysitting in 1998. At left seated is District Attorney Rick Wesenberg.
• Oct. 30-31, 1998 — Fourteen-year-old Stephanie Condon disappears from a home in Tri City where she is babysitting her cousin's 2-year-old twin girls.
• Oct. 31, 1998 — Stephanie Condon is reported missing from a Tri City home where she was baby-sitting her cousin’s 2-year-old twin girls. Almost immediately, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office contacts the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Neighbors help search the area.
• November 1998 — The case is featured on “America’s Most Wanted.” Several local businesses put up a $5,000 reward for information; Sheriff’s Office sets up a phone line for tips on the case.
• Nov. 17, 1998 — The first of many community vigils is held for Condon.
• December 1998 — Sheriff’s Office asks public for help in finding a comforter or a 1991 Ford F-150 pickup seen around the home where Condon was baby-sitting, or in rural roads in the area. A handgun is sought as well.
• Dec. 8, 1998 — Police identify Dale Wayne Hill, then 28, of Myrtle Creek as a suspect in the case; Hill is a suspect in an unrelated alleged robbery of a neighbors’ house.
• February 1999 — Hill pleads guilty to a second-degree robbery charge and is sentenced to almost six years in prison; he will be released in 2004. In a News-Review interview, Hill denies involvement in Condon’s disappearance but says he did go to the house where she was baby-sitting to look for Condon’s cousin.
• May 1999 - Police again ask the public to be on the lookout for a .38- caliber revolver and any other signs of what may have happened to Condon.
• June 1999 — Based on an anonymous call to a TV station, sheriff’s deputies search a creek bed in the Riddle area, but find nothing.
• October 1999 — Sheriff’s Office says it’s “fairly certain” Condon’s case was a homicide.
• November 1999 — Condon’s case is featured on “America’s Most Wanted.”
• December 1999 — A California foundation adds $5,000 to the reward total, upping it to $16,000.
• May 2001 — It is announced that a pavilion in memory of Condon and other missing children will be built behind Riddle City Hall.
• May 2003 — Sheriff’s Office asks for international help with the case, enlists law enforcement from national and British agencies.
• June 2003 — Officials with the British equivalent of the FBI use helicopters and high-technology radar imaging equipment to search the area, including Myrtle Creek’s Evergreen Park.
• October 2007 — Condon family sets up Web site, www.findstephanienow.com, on the ninth anniversary of her disappearance.
• December 2007 — Sheriff’s Office sets up multi-agency task force to investigate Condon’s disappearance.
• October 2008 — FBI team searches Herbert’s Pond in Canyonville, as it had been drained earlier in the summer, but find nothing.
• March 2009 — Sheriff’s Office announces that remains found March 13 in the Glide area have been positively identified as those of Stephanie Condon.
• Oct. 31, 1998 — Stephanie Condon is reported missing from a Tri City home where she was baby-sitting her cousin’s 2-year-old twin girls. Almost immediately, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office contacts the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Neighbors help search the area.
• November 1998 — The case is featured on “America’s Most Wanted.” Several local businesses put up a $5,000 reward for information; Sheriff’s Office sets up a phone line for tips on the case.
• Nov. 17, 1998 — The first of many community vigils is held for Condon.
• December 1998 — Sheriff’s Office asks public for help in finding a comforter or a 1991 Ford F-150 pickup seen around the home where Condon was baby-sitting, or in rural roads in the area. A handgun is sought as well.
• Dec. 8, 1998 — Police identify Dale Wayne Hill, then 28, of Myrtle Creek as a suspect in the case; Hill is a suspect in an unrelated alleged robbery of a neighbors’ house.
• February 1999 — Hill pleads guilty to a second-degree robbery charge and is sentenced to almost six years in prison; he will be released in 2004. In a News-Review interview, Hill denies involvement in Condon’s disappearance but says he did go to the house where she was baby-sitting to look for Condon’s cousin.
• May 1999 - Police again ask the public to be on the lookout for a .38- caliber revolver and any other signs of what may have happened to Condon.
• June 1999 — Based on an anonymous call to a TV station, sheriff’s deputies search a creek bed in the Riddle area, but find nothing.
• October 1999 — Sheriff’s Office says it’s “fairly certain” Condon’s case was a homicide.
• November 1999 — Condon’s case is featured on “America’s Most Wanted.”
• December 1999 — A California foundation adds $5,000 to the reward total, upping it to $16,000.
• May 2001 — It is announced that a pavilion in memory of Condon and other missing children will be built behind Riddle City Hall.
• May 2003 — Sheriff’s Office asks for international help with the case, enlists law enforcement from national and British agencies.
• June 2003 — Officials with the British equivalent of the FBI use helicopters and high-technology radar imaging equipment to search the area, including Myrtle Creek’s Evergreen Park.
• October 2007 — Condon family sets up Web site, www.findstephanienow.com, on the ninth anniversary of her disappearance.
• December 2007 — Sheriff’s Office sets up multi-agency task force to investigate Condon’s disappearance.
• October 2008 — FBI team searches Herbert’s Pond in Canyonville, as it had been drained earlier in the summer, but find nothing.
• March 2009 — Sheriff’s Office announces that remains found March 13 in the Glide area have been positively identified as those of Stephanie Condon.
|
ENLARGE
|
A billboard along I-5 north of Roseburg looking for information on Stephanie Condon.
|
|
ENLARGE
|
Lyon County Sheriff Lt. Rob Hall escorts Dale Wayne Hill into custody Wednesday morning, March 25, 2009, in Dayton, Nev.
|
|
ENLARGE
|
Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin speaks during a press conference at the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office announcing the identification of the human remains found in the Glide area earlier this month as those of Stephanie Condon, a 14-year-old who disappeared from a home in Tri City where she was babysitting in 1998.
|
For more than a decade, Stephanie Condon’s family has thought of little else but finding the missing 14-year-old Riddle girl and bringing her home.
On March 13, at a clear-cut site about 2 miles off Little River Road in the Glide area, Condon’s remains were found, authorities announced this morning.
“Now, it’s really about finding justice for Stephanie,” said Marty Condon, the girl’s father, as he held back tears at a press conference at the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
A Glide-area resident happened upon the skeletal remains on private timberland off a forest road while exercising his dogs. Investigators with the Stephanie Condon task force, including members of the Sheriff’s Office, Roseburg Police Department, Oregon State Police, the FBI and the District Attorney’s Office spent more than a week recovering the remains, said Sheriff John Hanlin.
Using dental records, the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office was able to confirm Thursday that the remains belong to Stephanie Condon. Authorities have been investigating her case as a child abduction and homicide since she went missing the night of Oct. 30, 1998, while baby-sitting for a family member in Tri City.
“Investigators believe that the recovery of Stephanie’s remains, and the seizure of evidence, will be instrumental in bringing this case to a successful resolution,” Hanlin said at the press conference, “including the arrest and prosecution of the person responsible for Stephanie’s death.”
A cause of death has not been determined. Hanlin declined to describe what investigators found at the site. Joseph Mellin, the man who found the remains, told The News-Review that he found a skull.
Hanlin said authorities have received and cleared hundreds of tips on the case over the years. Investigators early on focused their attention on Dale Wayne Hill, believed to be the last known person to have seen Condon alive.
“Hill continues to remain the only person that the investigation has not eliminated as a suspect,” Hanlin said.
He declined to discuss Hill, who reportedly knew the family member for whom Condon was baby-sitting, further this morning.
A reporter with the Nevada Appeal in Carson City told The News-Review today that Hill was arrested this morning in Dayton, 12 miles northeast of Carson City, on suspicion of failure to register as a felon. The reporter said authorities participating in the arrest confirmed they were from Oregon, but declined to comment further.
On March 13, at a clear-cut site about 2 miles off Little River Road in the Glide area, Condon’s remains were found, authorities announced this morning.
“Now, it’s really about finding justice for Stephanie,” said Marty Condon, the girl’s father, as he held back tears at a press conference at the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
A Glide-area resident happened upon the skeletal remains on private timberland off a forest road while exercising his dogs. Investigators with the Stephanie Condon task force, including members of the Sheriff’s Office, Roseburg Police Department, Oregon State Police, the FBI and the District Attorney’s Office spent more than a week recovering the remains, said Sheriff John Hanlin.
Using dental records, the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office was able to confirm Thursday that the remains belong to Stephanie Condon. Authorities have been investigating her case as a child abduction and homicide since she went missing the night of Oct. 30, 1998, while baby-sitting for a family member in Tri City.
“Investigators believe that the recovery of Stephanie’s remains, and the seizure of evidence, will be instrumental in bringing this case to a successful resolution,” Hanlin said at the press conference, “including the arrest and prosecution of the person responsible for Stephanie’s death.”
A cause of death has not been determined. Hanlin declined to describe what investigators found at the site. Joseph Mellin, the man who found the remains, told The News-Review that he found a skull.
Hanlin said authorities have received and cleared hundreds of tips on the case over the years. Investigators early on focused their attention on Dale Wayne Hill, believed to be the last known person to have seen Condon alive.
“Hill continues to remain the only person that the investigation has not eliminated as a suspect,” Hanlin said.
He declined to discuss Hill, who reportedly knew the family member for whom Condon was baby-sitting, further this morning.
A reporter with the Nevada Appeal in Carson City told The News-Review today that Hill was arrested this morning in Dayton, 12 miles northeast of Carson City, on suspicion of failure to register as a felon. The reporter said authorities participating in the arrest confirmed they were from Oregon, but declined to comment further.
Authorities here confirmed that Hill has been arrested in Nevada, but said it was not related to the Condon case.
Hill was arrested on unrelated burglary and robbery charges the year Condon disappeared and remained in prison until his release in 2004.
Court records show Hill at one point listed the 9500 block of Little River Road as his address.
Responding to a question of whether the remains, found off a logging road about two miles from the 9000 block of Little River Road, were located adjacent to Hill’s parents house in the same area, Hanlin said only that the remains were found in the general area of that road.
“There was an area up there that was part of the investigation early on,” Hanlin said, responding to further questions.
Hanlin emphasized investigators have actively pursued the case through the years. In 2007, authorities formed the task force to help solve the case, and a reward of up to $20,000 has been offered. The Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Squad also joined the investigation.
Hill was arrested on unrelated burglary and robbery charges the year Condon disappeared and remained in prison until his release in 2004.
Court records show Hill at one point listed the 9500 block of Little River Road as his address.
Responding to a question of whether the remains, found off a logging road about two miles from the 9000 block of Little River Road, were located adjacent to Hill’s parents house in the same area, Hanlin said only that the remains were found in the general area of that road.
“There was an area up there that was part of the investigation early on,” Hanlin said, responding to further questions.
Hanlin emphasized investigators have actively pursued the case through the years. In 2007, authorities formed the task force to help solve the case, and a reward of up to $20,000 has been offered. The Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Squad also joined the investigation.
Search efforts also involved British homicide investigators using radar imaging equipment and helicopters to find clues. Condon’s story has also been broadcast on several national television programs.
Condon’s family created a Web site, www.findstephanienow.com, to help generate information about the case. Billboards seeking information have also been set in place.
Marty Condon said the Web site remains active.
“We’re going to do whatever we can to help the investigation,” he said.
Condon’s family created a Web site, www.findstephanienow.com, to help generate information about the case. Billboards seeking information have also been set in place.
Marty Condon said the Web site remains active.
“We’re going to do whatever we can to help the investigation,” he said.
To read The Nevada Appeal's story on Dale W. Hill's arrest, click here.
• You can reach reporter Chelsea Duncan at 957-4246 or by e-mail at cduncan@nrtoday.com.
• You can reach reporter Chelsea Duncan at 957-4246 or by e-mail at cduncan@nrtoday.com.
A community Reacts
RIDDLE — In 2002, there was one seat empty at Riddle High School’s graduation.A yellow ribbon and a picture of a smiling blond girl marked the spot where Stephanie Condon should have been standing with her class.
The community remembers the 14-year-old girl who went missing in October of 1998.
“She was one of the sweetest little girls in the world,” said RHS science teacher Fred Herinckx, adding that the community knew something was awry from the beginning because Condon was a responsible teenager and wouldn’t have run away.
News of Condon’s disappearance from a baby-sitting job in Tri City crushed the small community.
Herinckx remembered the shock: “The news went through the community and schools like wildfire; it was pretty intense.”
Classmate Kayla McCurry, a freshman at the time, remembers a feeling of being kept in the dark, the students sheltered somehow from the bitter news, gleaning what they could from parents and wading through the mass of rumors that swirled around their friend’s disappearance.
McCurry, now a 25-year-old substitute teacher in the Portland area, said in the small school everyone knew Condon somehow.
“I never expected them to find her,” she said, when she learned the news from a reporter. “It’s nice that there’s some closure for her family. This is 10 years of just kind of floating around not knowing.”
McCurry’s thoughts for the family were echoed by Herinckx and longtime Riddle resident Carol Linton.
“The family has never forgotten, has never stopped working on trying to find her and who did this. They’ve updated billboards constantly, they’ve worked constantly to keep her face out there, her name out there,” Linton said this morning. “It’s heartbreaking. There’s relief they finally found her, but it still definitely hurts.”
• Reporters Cara Pallone, Craig Reed and DD Bixby contributed to this report.
VIDEO
Map
This map shows the approximate location of the remains found and identified as Stephanie Condon. View Larger Map
