Lost Women of Highway 20

Her family hasn't heard from her.

Authorities don't have any new leads.

State police say

they're gonna continue searching

as long as necessary for her.

The girl's body was found just a short distance after this growth.

If the police would have listened to me.

None of this would have ever happened.

I hear I'm the only frickin' survivor!

In the wooded heart of Central Oregon

there's a road that winds through the pine-studded mountains,

Highway 20.

Picturesque and striking.

Many find comfort here.

But across three decades

hiding in plain sight

a predator...

hunts this trail.

Some still think of this monster,

dragging away the innocent like prey,

from all that they knew.

But others think of the victims,

who they could have become

if anyone had stopped to listen,

to see them.

For only the woods,

their witnessed all the lost women.

I'm a long-time reporter in Oregon,

covering crime.

The editor of The Oregonian came over to my desk one day

and said, "I have a story I wanna talk to you about.

"It's about a serial killer."

There's a cluster of missing girl cases,

you know, unsolved cases, cold cases,

on and around Highway 20,

a coast-to-coast highway.

It starts in Boston and ends in Newport, Oregon.

It was very intriguing.

Who is this guy?

How have we never heard about him?

And who are these women?

I thought, "Well, I'm gonna start

"with the unsolved disappearance

"of this young girl, Rachanda Pickle."

On July 10th, 13-year-old Rachanda Lea Pickle

disappeared from her home

near the State Highway division maintenance complex

just west of Santiam Pass.

She was reported missing on the 11th.

Santiam Junction, I think the best way

to describe it would be put five maybe six houses

with a few people living in

camp trailers out in the middle of nowhere...

and make a community out of it.

If someone wants to look on the map, look at where Highway 20

and where Highway 22 meet,

and that's where the Santiam Junction is.

We're probably about 23, maybe 26, miles

from Sisters, Oregon, which was the nearest town.

Forty-five, to 48 miles from Sweet Home,

where we went to elementary school at.

My sister and I, we were definitely close at a very young age.

We were up there at the Junction, there was no one else.

It was us against the world.

And then, have you seen one of these?

- It's been a long time. - Yeah.

I was in, um, third grade, when I met Rachanda

at school.

I remember that day.

She looked exactly like Punky Brewster.

She did.

Literally the first day

on the playground I've seen her,

we clicked.

Before the word diva, I would express her now

definitely as a diva, as somebody who was into the latest fashion

pop music and stuff.

Hair

It was always in a little floof,

dangly earrings,

the '90s bangs, um...

the bigger they are, the better they are.

And goofy. She was funny.

I mean she was like, truly, truly funny.

She was just a goofball.

She would make me laugh until I cried.

And she'll do another little thing

and set me off again.

Start laughing my butt off.

She could be friends with anybody at school.

Being so little and just having such that

presence about her, you know...

Excuse me.

On July 10th, I remember getting a call from my mom, you know,

"Hey, has Rachanda gotten ahold of you?

"Well, she's missing."

I'm like, "Well, did you look for the note?"

'Cause we'd always leave notes and stuff, ju... if, you know... around in the case that

Mom or my stepfather, John, came home.

"No, there's no note."

I'm like, "Did you go look for her BB gun?

"Maybe she's out shooting her BB gun."

"No, her BB gun's here."

So, it... it just didn't make sense.

I was trying to rationalize stuff, you know.

I knew that she wouldn't go off in the woods alone by herself

Rachanda found the woods very scary and intimidating.

'Cause the Junction is out in the middle of nowhere.

And then I was like, "Well, did you call the cops?"

"They say we got to wait 24 hours."

The morning of July 11th

is when my mom called the law enforcement.

My aunt Linda married Steve Pickle

and she had two kids with him,

Rachanda and Byron.

There's a picture there of my mom

with my dad Steve, with me,

and I'm, you know, I'm looking at them now, and I'm like,

"My gosh, you guys were babies,

"having babies." I mean...

Holey-moley, they were just so young.

My mom had to be either 18 or 19 in the picture

and my dad had to be 20 or 21, maybe.

They definitely did not get along well.

I mean, my parents, both of them

were very vindictive to each other.

As kids, we were definitely used as their little pawns.

And of course, my mom would always remind me

how much I did look like my dad, Steve, so.

They got divorced.

Linda was struggling to make it on one income.

I think I was seven years old,

when my mom and John first got together.

John was a mechanic

for the State Highway Department.

We grew up there in the Sweet Home area.

John was my favorite uncle.

John would actually make you feel

special.

My 16th birthday, John and I, we went to Arby's,

and I must have had four roast beef and cheddars.

After that, we went to the drive-in

And he gave me $50.

That was really nice.

A fun... fun day.

My mom asked my sister and I

to come talk with her and John.

And they asked what we think about moving to the Junction.

And at that point, I was like, "This is getting serious."

Rachanda was six,

I think, when Linda married John.

Linda ended up quitting her second job

'cause John was so well off.

From where we were at to where he was at,

I mean, it was believed some balance financially.

I remember the first time that he pulled $5

out of his wallet and handed us,

I was like... That was the most cash

I've ever had in my hands at that point in time.

I felt like, I mean...

That might as well have been a Benjamin.

Some of the people in the family

couldn't even read or write well.

And then you have this guy who graduated high school

He had a great career, a previous military guy.

This guy was my dad.

Taught me how to hunt. Taught me how to fish.

Actually spent time with me

Definitely heavy-handed, but he was a good dad.

You know, my dad, Steve, wasn't around.

I knew who he was,

but really didn't get to know who he was.

It was 1990, during the spring time.

I'm 14, Rachanda is 13.

I can't remember if I came up with it or it was Rachanda's idea, ,

we wanted to get know our biological father.

We called up, my grandmother

on the phone, with the pay phone,

put the quarter in and called her and said,

"Hey, I wanted to go spend the summer with my dad.

"Do you have his phone number, so I can give him a call?"

My mom was like, "Absolutely not.

"Why would you even wanna go see that guy?"

I really wanted to know who he was

so I could form my own opinion.

My dad came and picked us up from the Junction.

We had the windows open, you know, standing by and stuff.

And my stepfather, John, came up.

Looked at me, put his finger right at me.

He's like, "You remember what I told you."

I was like, "Yeah, I remember what you told me."

Never to leave my sister Rachanda alone

with our biological father, Steve Pickle.

Members of my family kept their distance

at an arm's length from Steven.

You give Steve an inch, he'll take a mile.

And that's saying it loosely.

We drove to Medford.

Big change from Santiam Junction.

Steve was living in a manufactured home park.