William Avis Pettit Jr., a 39-year-old white man described as a transient, was found dead in a boxcar in Millersburg, Oregon, on December 3, 1995. Authorities determined he had been bludgeoned to death and believed the killing occurred on December 1 in Salem, Oregon.

Investigators later identified Robert Joseph Silveria Jr., a 36-year-old white drifter known as The Boxcar Killer, as the suspect in Pettit’s murder. Silveria was arrested on March 2, 1996, in a rail yard in Roseville, California, and extradited to Oregon. At arrest he was found with Pettit’s backpack, Social Security card, birth certificate, and food stamps, items prosecutors say tied him to the crime. He was arraigned in Marion County Circuit Court on charges of aggravated murder and robbery; prosecutors had not decided whether to seek the death penalty at arraignment.

Pettit’s death was one of a series of violent killings linked to a suspect who targeted fellow transients along freight routes, a pattern that complicated investigations across multiple jurisdictions. Does anyone have memories or information about Pettit, his last known whereabouts, or the rail communities where he lived?