Laurie Ann Pentland, 23, was found dead behind an east Salem store in November 1992. Investigators believe she was killed on the night of November 8 or in the early hours of November 9. Her death was ruled a homicide by strangulation.

For a time the case produced no leads and was one of several murders of vulnerable women across the Pacific Northwest. Laurie’s death was later linked to long-haul truck driver Keith Hunter Jesperson, who began confessing to multiple killings and signed some of his letters with a smiley face. In his account of Pentland’s death he said he had paid her for sex, a dispute followed when she allegedly tried to charge more, and that he strangled her when she threatened to call the police.

Anyone who knew Laurie, saw her in Salem in early November 1992, or has information about what happened that night is asked to come forward.