A long-simmering family dispute in Northeast Portland ended in fatal violence on March 28, 2015. Arthur James Palmer III, 46, was found in his front yard on Northeast Morris Street with a gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead at the scene in the early morning hours. Responding officers arrived after a call at about 1:09 a.m.

Arthur’s cousin, 51-year-old William Palmer Heyser, who lived next door, remained at the residence with other family members and was arrested at the scene. Authorities recovered a shotgun believed to be the murder weapon. Heyser was charged with murder with a domestic-violence specification and with being a felon in possession of a firearm; a grand jury later returned an indictment and he was held in the Multnomah County Inverness Jail awaiting trial.

The case underscores how a familial love-hate relationship escalated to deadly violence. Did anyone in Northeast Portland know Arthur or the family and have information about the dispute that led to this killing?