On the afternoon of July 19, 1997, a man collecting bottles and cans in the 600 block of NE Everett in Portland, Oregon, found the body of 39-year-old Lois Marilee Luttrell and summoned a police officer. Medical personnel pronounced her dead at the scene and an autopsy later determined Luttrell’s death was a homicide from multiple stab wounds.

Luttrell had worked in the shipyards before an on-the-job injury altered her life. Friends said she struggled with alcoholism and drug use and led a high-risk lifestyle, but also provided caregiving and housekeeping for disabled people and pensioners in exchange for lodging. She was last seen alive about 6 p.m. on July 18, 1997, near Southeast 7th and Ankenny in the company of an unidentified Hispanic man for whom police later made a sketch. Friends reported she had no known enemies.

No arrests have been announced and the case remains unsolved. If anyone knew Lois, the man she was last seen with, or has information about that evening, please come forward.