An arrest has been made in the cold case murder of a rural Walker man.
Linn County Sheriff’s deputies, assisted by deputies from the Multnomah County, Oregon Sheriff’s Office and agents from the Cedar Rapids Resident Agency of the FBI, arrested 64-year old Michael S. Schappert of Fairview, Oregon, for the December 23rd, 1983 cold case murder of 24-year old Ronald Lee Novak.
On December 24th, 1983, a friend found Novak dead in an unheated room in his home at 5044 Rolling Acres Road in rural Walker, after what appeared to be an apparent robbery and/or burglary. He was found with his hands bound behind his back, beaten about his head and face, and shot once in the chest. At the time, the medical examiner ruled that Novak died from a combination of those injuries, shock and hypothermia…