Law enforcement closed the highway near milepost 196 along the Columbia River on Saturday, May 15.
Washington and Oregon transportation departments reported Highway 730 closed in both directions at the junction of U.S. Highway 12 due to law enforcement activity.
Initially, the call to the Umatilla County Sheriff s Office was for drug activity, with possible drug paraphernalia. When the deputy arrived on the scene at 9:08 a.m. and observed the device, it was described as bottles wrapped with electrical tape and wires coming from them, UCSO Lt. Sterrin Ward said.
There also was a strong smell of either ammonia or some type of accelerant, Ward said.
HERMISTON â A Boardman man is facing charges for allegedly disposing of the body of a Hermiston man found dead of a gunshot wound outside the city in March 2020, according to Umatilla County District Attorney Dan Primus.
Kevin Ricardo Melendez, 26, was arrested by Hermiston police with Rachel Cruz, 26, on May 7, after reports of trespassing. Both had warrants against them.
According to Primus, the charges against Melendez, handed down in a secret indictment from a Umatilla County Grand Jury on April 29, are related to the shooting death of Jordan Crandall, 28, who was found dead next to an irrigation ditch near Alpine Drive northeast of Hermiston in March 2020. Cruz was wanted on a separate matter, court documents show.
PENDLETON â Umatilla County officials are looking toward a possible new network of mental health professionals to assist, or possibly replace, law enforcement in responding to calls for people suffering from a mental health or addiction crisis.
The idea, officials say, would be similar to the âCAHOOTSâ system in Eugene, where a two-person team of medics and mental health professionals respond to calls involving mental illness, homelessness and addiction, with an emphasis on de-escalation.
But Umatilla County, with its sprawling locale, is far different from Lane County and Eugene, and now, county officials are trying to reimagine how the system could work within the county.
The body of missing Idaho woman found Saturday after a multi-agency search in Oregon Jacob Scholl, The Idaho Statesman
May 10 An Oregon sheriff s office says they found the body of a missing Star woman during an extensive, multi-agency search over the weekend.
The body of Deborah Hendrichs, 56, was found around 1 p.m. Saturday on the east side of Interstate 84 near milepost 238 just south of Meacham, Oregon, according to a press release from the Umatilla County, Oregon, Sheriff s Office.
Hendrichs was reported missing in Ada County on Jan. 11. She had left her home without her purse, warm clothes or essential medications. Her car was later found abandoned on Jan. 14 along the interstate near Meacham, a hamlet in Oregon s Blue Mountains.
PENDLETON â Officials with the Umatilla County Sheriffâs Office said that an ATV driver was killed and a passenger injured in a crash on Saturday, May 8, near Ukiah.
According to a press release from the UCSO, Jessica Whitney Ice, 33, of Pendleton, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash in the area of Hideaway Springs Road.
An adult female passenger was transported by ambulance to Ukiah, and then Life Flighted by helicopter to St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla, Washington, the press release said, where she is reportedly in good condition.
Police said the Umatilla County Sheriff s Dispatch Center received a call around 3 p.m. reporting the crash. Pendleton Fire and Ukiah Quick Response Team responded to the call.