On the morning of June 10, 2003, a security guard making rounds in Portland’s Old Town found the body of 43-year-old Christine Ione Lawson in a doorway on Northwest 2nd Avenue between Couch and Burnside Streets. An autopsy determined her death resulted from homicidal violence. Investigators concluded Christine had not been killed at that doorway but was likely murdered elsewhere and moved to the location where she was discovered, leaving one crime scene unknown.

Christine was known to police, lived a transient lifestyle, and frequented the Old Town area. She struggled with crack cocaine use and had family in California. The case went cold without arrests or publicly identified suspects, and the Portland Police Cold Case Homicide Unit is seeking information that might solve the crime.

If anyone knew Christine’s movements or saw anything suspicious around Old Town in early June 2003, please come forward with what you know.