Whitney Heichel Found; Missing Woman's Body Found, Neighbor Arrested for Murder
The search for Whitney Heichel came to a sad end.
The 21-year-old barista's body was found Friday by police on Larch Mountain.
Heichel went missing Tuesday morning on her way to her shift at Starbucks.
Jonathan Holt, a 24-year old acquaintance and neighbor, was arrested due to incomplete interviews with the authorities and forensic evidence relating him to Heichel's abandoned car.
Clinton Heichel, the missing woman's husband, reported his wife missing at 9:56 a.m. when her supervisor called saying she never came to work.
"I called her several times," Heichel said Wednesday. "I texted her several times and then actually at about 9:30ish, her phone got to the point where you would call and it went straight to voicemail."
Heichel's Ford Explorer was found in a Walmart parking lot hours after her disappearance. The vehicle was abandoned and the passenger window was broken. Holt's fingerprints and DNA were found on the vehicle.
The Ford Explorer appeared on a gas station surveillance video and her bank card was used at two stations within eight minutes apart.
A witness told authorities that he had seen the Ford Explorer at a gas station with Heichel in the car, but an unidentified man was driving.
Her body was found just a 40-minute drive from her Gresham, Ore. Home.
Heichel's family has responded thanking the community for their efforts to find her.
"The loving concern from ones that didn't even know Whitney or her family has deeply touched our hearts," Heichel's family said in a statement. "The kind expressions, and support from perfect strangers has confirmed to us that there is much good in people... And though, while this event in our lives is tragic, we saw the positive effects it has had on this community."
Holt will first appear in Clackamas County Court on Oct. 22.
