100 Murder Cases

Oregon Cold Case: Who Killed Frank Pettingill?

When Frank Pettingill left his Sumner, Oregon home on the evening of Saturday, August 31, 1991, he told his wife, Mary Ann, that he would be back within an hour. He planned to go to a nearby Curtis Mathes store to purchase a TV Guide, then to Fred Meyers to buy some hobby glue. Mary Ann watched as he left the house and got into his truck; she had no idea that it would be the last time she saw her husband alive.

When Frank failed to return home as promised, Mary Ann wasn't initially concerned. It was Labor Day weekend, and she thought he might have run into some friends in town and decided to have a few drinks with them. By the following morning, she was starting to panic, but she didn't call the police; since Frank was an adult, she thought she had to wait 48 hours before she could report him missing.

By Monday morning, Frank still hadn't returned home. Mary Ann was getting ready to call the police when she heard a news report that made her heart sink: a group of people who were out gathering mushrooms in an isolated area southeast of Coos Bay had stumbled upon a man's body. The location where the body had been found was in the opposite direction of the store where Frank had been headed, but Mary Ann was certain it was him.

Mary Ann immediately called the police and described her missing husband. It didn't take long before her worst fears were confirmed; Frank had been murdered. Police believed that he had been killed at the location where his body was found, but the coroner was unable to determine his exact time of death. Although there was no way for them to be 100% sure, investigators believed he had likely been killed shortly after he left his house on Saturday evening.

Initially, Mary Ann was viewed as a potential suspect, but detectives soon determined that she had no involvement in Frank's death. She was completely cooperative with investigators and voluntarily submitted to a polygraph examination. Although she had failed to report Frank missing right away, she had a reasonable enough excuse and she passed the lie detector test without any problems.

Detectives got their first break in the case on Tuesday, when Frank's truck was found. It appeared to have been abandoned after getting stuck in the sand near a jetty along Coos Bay. A search of the truck yielded little in the way of physical evidence, but when investigators interviewed a man who was camping near the jetty, he told them that he had given a ride to a woman who had been driving the truck when it got stuck in the sand.

The man was able to provide detectives with a physical description of the woman he had assumed was the truck's owner; she had been in her mid-30s, with shaggy brown hair and a thin build. She had asked the witness if he would give her a ride into the town of Coos Bay, and he had agreed to do so. He noted that she had taken several bags out of the truck and brought them with her; they appeared to contain clothing and camping supplies. When he last saw the woman, she was wearing jeans, a dark jacket, and an orange bandanna.

Several witnesses came forward and reported that they had seen this woman driving Frank's truck that weekend; others recalled seeing her at the Blue Moon, a bar that was popular with members of the Outsiders motorcycle gang. Using the description provided by the witnesses, a composite sketch of the woman was created and released to the news media as a person of interest in Frank's murder.

Investigators interviewed many members of the Outsiders motorcycle gang, but they denied knowing the unidentified woman. Police executed a search warrant on the Outsider's clubhouse but found nothing at all related to Frank's murder. They eventually determined that the motorcyclists were not involved; the fact that the woman had been seen in a bar where many of the Outsiders had been drinking was deemed a coincidence.

In December 1991, Coos Bay County placed the unidentified woman on the Five Most Wanted list. Although several people called in to report potential sightings of her, investigators were unable to confirm any of them. The fact that the woman had been seen carrying camping equipment led them to believe that she was homeless; she most likely left the area shortly after Frank's body was discovered.

Frank's family and friends were shocked by his brutal death. The 38-year-old had been a long-time employee of Hallmark Fisheries in Charleston, Oregon; he was described as being a polite and mild-mannered man who never had anything mean to say about anybody. His manager at work said Frank was the most likeable guy he had ever met, and he couldn't imagine why anyone would have wanted to kill him.

Frank and Mary Ann appeared to have a trouble-free marriage. Some people wondered if Frank might have been having an affair with the woman seen driving his truck, but this seems unlikely. Detectives never found anything to indicate Frank was seeing anyone, and it's unlikely Frank would have been involved with a homeless woman. It's possible he had seen her hitchhiking and offered her a ride, only to have her turn on him.

To date, officials have released few details about Frank's murder. They have said only that he died from "homicidal violence" and that the person responsible wanted to make sure he was dead. They have confirmed that a weapon was used, but refuse to say what kind. It's possible that robbery was the motive behind Frank's death; when his body was found, his wallet was missing. It has never been recovered.

The unidentified woman remains the prime suspect in Frank's murder; investigators have confirmed that female DNA was obtained from the crime scene. So far, they have been unable to match this DNA to any samples presently in criminal databases. It's possible that the suspect is deceased; if she is alive, she has managed to avoid being convicted of any violent crimes.

Frank Pettingill was 38 years old when he was murdered in 1991. Police believe his killer was a woman who was in her early 30s at the time of the crime, around 5 feet 5 inches tall and 105 pounds. She had shaggy light brown hair, a weathered face, and rough hands with short fingernails. If you have any information about Frank's murder, please contact the Coos County Sheriff's Office at 541–396–7800.