Almost 45 years ago, in the early morning hours of July 18, 1980, Oregon State Police responded to a report of a deceased, unidentified male along Interstate 5 near Woodburn. A homicide investigation was opened and while extensive efforts were made to identify the victim, he remained a John Doe until April 2025.
In cooperation with the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office and the Orange County (California) Sheriff’s Department, OSP’s Cold Case Unit was able to positively identify the victim as Larry Eugene Parks. Parks was 30 years old at the time of his death and a Vietnam veteran. His family had lost contact with him in 1979, and was last seen in Pensacola, Florida. Until his identification last month, the circumstances of his disappearance were unknown to the Parks family.
The discovery of Parks’ body came a day after the body of Michael O’Fallon was found along I-5 near the Talbot exit, also in Marion County. Due to similarities in the evidence, investigators at the time suspected the two murders were related. Unfortunately, both investigations went cold as investigative leads dried up…