Riatha Marie Gyles, 16, was found dead in the Molalla Forest in Clackamas County, Oregon, in the summer of 1987.

Investigators linked Riatha’s death to a pattern of attacks on vulnerable women—often runaways or those living on the streets—by Dayton Leroy Rogers, who is described as having lured victims with promises of money or companionship and taken them to isolated locations. A pivotal eyewitness intervention on August 7, 1987, after an attack in a Denny’s parking lot produced a license plate and led to Rogers’s arrest. Forensic evidence and witness testimony connected him to multiple deaths at the Molalla site, and he was convicted of the aggravated murder of Riatha Gyles and other women in 1989.

Riatha was one of several victims whose cases revealed a long pattern of violence against women. Does anyone have memories of Riatha or information about her life before she disappeared?