Missed Shifts Led Co-Workers to an Oregon Home Where a Woman, Her Son and Her Mother Lay Dead

HAPPY VALLEY, Ore. — An Oregon woman, her teenage son, and mother all died after being shot in their home in Happy Valley. A man, believed to have been responsible for the triple homicide, died by suicide as police tried to take him into custody.

The triple homicide and death of the suspect occurred in two separate incidents.

Victims Identified and Police Release the Investigation Timeline

The Happy Valley Police Department (HVPD) has identified the victims in the triple homicide as 47-year-old Katie Lynn Kinder, 15-year-old Evan Scott Kinder, and 78-year-old Patricia Lynn Campbell.

The investigation began on Monday, October 19, when the HVPD conducted a welfare check at a home on SE Highpointe Street, after a call from Katie Kinder’s employer who reported that she had failed to show up for work. Attempts to contact her had failed.

Police Find All Three Victims Deceased on Tuesday

When Katie Kinder failed to appear for work again the next day, two co-workers gained access to her home, and the HVPD was called to the scene. Upon entering the property, officers found the three victims. They were all deceased.

Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office then joined the investigation. Autopsies were conducted on Wednesday, and the Medical Examiner confirmed that all three victims had died from gunshot wounds.

The sheriff’s office released this sequence of events.

Police Receive Tip-Off That Suspect Had Been Spotted in a Coastal Town

Detectives then learned that 45-year-old Edward Jonathan Villa had failed to appear for work on Monday and Tuesday. They were told Villa had been seen in a coastal town on October 20.

On Wednesday, armed with a warrant for his arrest on three counts of first-degree murder, investigators arrived at a motel in Hammond. They surrounded the property in an attempt to take the suspect into custody, but Villa took his own life.