Statesman Journal from Salem, Oregon • Page 1

n7 Ootrus; lADUUDGl) SuQ tl Given 3 Consecutive Life Terms After Guilty Pleas SALEM FOUNDED 1651 Charge Pending; Siayings Described 119th YEAR 4 SECTIONS-28 PAGES The Oregon Statesman, Salem, Oregon, Saturday, June 28, Fourth Murder Jerome Henry Brudos, admitted Friday that he murdered Karen Elena Sprinker, Linda Dawn Salee and Jan Susan Whitney. He was immediately sentenc Brydos Berry, Cherry Loss Is High Due to Rain Attacks, Killings guilty to the three charges of first degree murder. He previously had pleaded innocent and innocent by reason of insanity. When Sloper asked him why he wanted to plead guilty, Brudos answered, "Well, your honor, I did it." The dramatic development came less than 72 hours before he was scheduled to go to trial for the March 27 strangulation slaying of Miss Sprinker, 19-year old Oregon State University coed from Salem. She was last seen In the Meier St Frank parking lot here, and her weighted body was found May 12 in the Long Tom River near the Benton County community of Monroe.

Found Early The body of Miss Salee, 22, Beaverton, also weighted down with automobile parts and found in the same area, was discovered 2 days earlier. She had been missing from the Lloyd Center in Portland since April 23. Miss Whitney's body still is missing, and no evidence was given in court Friday to indicate if the location of the 23-year-old McMinnville girl is known. Another first degree murder charge against Brudos involving a Jane Doe (believed to be Linda Slawson of Aloha) still is pending in District Court. District Attorney Gary Gort-maker said after the court hear By LILLIE L.

MADS EN Farm Editor, The Statesman Strawberry crop loss from heat and rain is estimated at approximately 25 per cent. It appears now that cherry growers will suffer a 40 per cent loss from split fruit caused by rain. Rain damage to hay, seed and grain cannot yet be estimated. These were the late Friday reports from fieldmen, processors and growers. Very few valley strawberries are being harvested.

Wednesday concluded most of the picking in lower fields. Harvest is still continuing between showers in the hills area. Those harvested in the Silverton Hills area Friday were reported "fairly firm." Little fruit rot had set in. Fruit rot and soft berries closed valley picking. Should rain clear picking in Silverton Hills will continue until around July 4.

Waren Pahl, assist manager, Willamette Cherry Growers, said Thursday "we've been happily surprised at the quality of cherries brought in between showers." He said growers were paying a little more for the harvesting so that pickers will sort in the field. He said few cherries brought in had more than a 15 per cent splitting. No cherries are accepted with more than 35 per cent cracking, he said. Approximately the same story was told from Kelly Farquhar, another heavy purchaser of cherries. Growers said that part of their trees were most of the south sides were "completely ruined." They estimated loss at "fully 40 per cent." Some hay cut in the field is moulding and will not be saved.

What will happen to seed crops will depend upon how long the rain continues, farmers said. Considerable loss is anticipated in cover seed fields. But beans and corn are making phenominal growth. nllilliiiiiilliliiiiiimiTwrnimMiw'FM i minim muiijn ijyuy nuj I aj tik'i nrm VtX Jl Yd lj i 4 I II 7 i jr 1 4 1 tli I 14 Si a Congress Extends Surtax for Month WASHINGTON (AP) Congress voted Friday to allow the government to continue collecting the 10 per cent income surtax through July 31. The legislation, which now awaits the expected approval of President Nixon, is an emergency measure that continues the present tax withholding rates for another month pending a decision on extending the surtax.

The surtax which was imposed last year expires at midnight next Monday. No. 93 Dumping for PGE uled for completion in 1974 on the Oregon side of the river 42 miles northwest of Portland. The authority's staff report on the proposal said thermal, chemical and radioactive emissions from the plant would fall well below maximum levels set by the State Board of Health and the Atomic Energy Commission. The authority commended PGE for including plans for a massive cooling tower 492 feet high, 385 feet in diameter which should absorb more than 98 per cent of the plant's heat output.

Such cooling towers are a recent innovation in atomic power plants and, said the authority, "are the best alternative for reducing thermal pollution." The plant's actual thermal discharge will be in the form of warm water emptied into the Columbia River at a maximum rate of 8 million gallons a day at high temperature of 101 degrees fahrenheit. This, said the authority's report, would result in a heat dilution of 1000-to-l, or about that from a moderate size pulp mill. Pricnn-Rnimrl Jerome Henry Brudos leaves Marlon County Circuit Court I MiUH uuuuu Frlday headed for three life terms in Oregon State Penitentiary, after confessing to the strangulation murders of three young women. Brudos, a Salem electrician, waived a 48-hour waiting period and was taken to the prison Friday afternoon. Behind him are Marion County Sheriff deputies Delbert Pixler (left) and Leslie Chandler.

(Statesman Photo by John Ericksen) OREGON 1969 PRICE 10c Nuclear Granted PORTLAND (AP) Portland General Electric Company granted a permit by the State Sanitary Authority Friday to dump wastes from a nuclear power plant into the Columbia River. The proposed plant is sched- Star Linfield Athlete Dies In Viet War WASHINGTON (AP) Another Oregon serviceman has died in Vietnam, the Defense Depart- ment reported Friday. Army PFC. Michael E. Bar-rcw, son of Mr.

and Mrs. Eugene B. Barrow of Portland, was killed in action. He was the 499th Oregon man to die in the war since 1961, the 95th this year. Barrow was a star athlete at Linfield College, playing on both the football and baseball teams at the McMinnville school.

(Additional details on sports pages.) Battle a public split between President Nixon and one of his closest advisers. The statement drew immediate criticism from some members of Congress who accused the. administration of putting politics ahead of health care. "The conspiracy has succeeded," said Edward M. Kennedy cf Massachusetts, Democratic Senate whip.

"Politics won," said Sen. Charles E. Goodell, A spokesman for the American Hospital Association said "We learned with regret and ed to three consecutive life terms in Oregon State Penitentiary. He appeared before Marion County Circuit Judge Val D. Sloper and changed his pleas to Te ly about the bodies of Miss Sprinker and Miss Salee, whose bodies had been found in the Long Tom River south of Corvallis May 10 and May 12, which was two days before Brudos made the coke date.

Met Police On a return date May 18, police met Brudos instead of the girl, and he was identified. When he called the girl for a date, he told her he was a Vietnam veteran who wanted to talk. Miss Sprinker disappeared from a Meier Frank parking lot in Salem, Miss Salee, in the parking lot of Lloyd's Center, and Miss Whitney at the San-tiam Reststop of 1-5 freeway just north of Albany. In all cases the victim's cars were found locked, possibly indicating that they were accosted while out of their cars. This was not made clear in his talks with police.

Brudos maintained that his wife Ralphine did not know anything about the crimes. She has declined to talk with police upon advice from her attorney. Kept in Darkroom Officers said the bodies were kept in the darkroom "one and two days" and in one case as long as five days. Brudos said his wife knew better than to enter the darkroom because the light might spoil his film processing. She had a key to the darkroom but he says she didn't use it.

Mrs. Brudos has been staying with friends in this area. One photograph recovered by police shows Brudos' legs, wearing nylon hose and women's shoes. Police found women's clothing from his victims in his darkroom and other parts of the residence. He admitted that in 1968 he was caught by Corvallis police at Sackett Hall, an Oregon State University women's dormitory, wearing pedal pushers, high-heeled shoes and other female attire.

Brudos said he committed all the murders in Marion County because he did not want another county jurisdiction involved in case he was caught. Same Procedure He said he used the same procedure to force all his victims into his car, similar to his abortive kidnaping attempt on Miss Gloria Jean Smith, 15-year-old daughter of Mrs. Stella G. Smith, 568 23rd St. NE.

In that case April 22, near Parrish Junior High School in Salem, he displayed a pistol and tried to get Miss Smith into his auto. She fled. He promised Miss Smith that he would not "rape her or anything like that." Police have no physical evidence on the death of Jane Doe, thought to be Miss Slawson, and efforts to find the body of Miss Whitney have failed. Police dug a hole in the backyard of Brudos' home, looking for evidence. Investigators dug up one fresh spot in the backyard, but only found ashes and a rotten tree stump.

(Additional details on page 7.) Start Your Day with The Statesman Page Sec. Ann Landers 12 II Church 8 I Classified 19-28 III Comics 12 II Crossword 12 II Editorials 4 I Market, Business .18 III Obituaries 7 I 19 111 Public Notices 17 III Panorama 6 I SOS 12 II Sports 15, 16lll Star Gazer 12 II Sunday TV 17 III TV-Radio 12 II Valley News .11, 14 II lis of By ALLEN MORRISON Staff Writer, The Statesman Confessed killer Jerome Henry Brudos told police at the time of his arrest May 30 that he used weapons to force his young women victims to his Salem home. There in the photography darkroom of his home at 3123 Center St. NE, he admitted raping and killing threa pretty victims Karen Elena Sprinker, 19, Salem; Jan Susan Whit-. ney, 23, McMinnville, and Miss Linda Dawn Salee, 22, Beaver-Tton.

The body of Miss Whitney has not been found. Brudos said he thinks he threw it off the Independence Bridge into the main Willamette River channel. Another girl, thought to be Linda Slawson, 19, Aloha, a community west of Portland, but officially still listed as Jane Doe, was thrown "over a rail somewhere" in Marion County. Brudos said he didn't know where he disposed of Jane Doe but thought she was still alive when thrown over the highway railing, probably in January of 1968. This information and other disclosures concerning one of Oregon's most sordid crimes began unraveling as Brudos unexpectedly pleaded guilty to three murder counts in Marion County Circuit Court Friday.

Used Pistol, Knife He told police that he used a pistol and sometimes a knife to force his victims into his car, promising them that he would not harm them. Then in broad daylight he said, he drove Miss Sprinker, Miss Salee and Miss Whitney into his double-sized garage, partitioned off for his photographic shop. The victims were then led out a door away from the street, into his backyard and into the darkroom. There he said he bound them, disrobed them, raped them, killed them, and mutilated at least two bodies. Found Photos Police, armed with a search warrant June 3, found nude photographs but only from the shoulders down of three bodies.

Only Miss Spinker's face was on film. He said he killed all his victims shortly after arriving at his home, Jane Doe in early January of 1968; Miss Whitney, Nov. 26, 1968; Miss Sprinker, March 27; Miss Salee April 23. He got Jane Doe, tentatively identified as Miss Slawson, when she was selling encyclopedias door-to-door. At that time he lived near 47th and Hawthorne in Portland.

Police found two encyclopedias of the type being sold by Miss Slawson when they searched his Salem home. Police got on Brudos trail after a Corvallis girl notified police that she had a coke with a man who talked strange- Today's Chuckle Women have a way of keeping a man from reading between the lines. They call it makeup. tion Committee in the country that was against Secretary Finch's decision to have me nominated." In an earlier interview with the Long Island, N.Y. newspaper Newsday Knowles accused the AMA of being "afraid I'd speak out and ask the right questions." Such questions, he said, would concern the medical profession's responsibility for what he called "skyrocketing doctors' fees." Related story on page pictures on page 9.) Nixon has asked Congress to extend it at 10 per cent through Dec.

31 and then at 5 per cent through the first half of 1970. This proposal has stirred up considerable debate in Congress. The House is expected to vote on it Monday. Opponents are arguing that extension of the surtax without attaching significant tax reforms would greatly weaken the chances for such reforms in the near future. iWthout the emergency legislation extending the present rates for a month, the government and employers would have to change their withholding system next Tuesday and then change it again later if the surtax is continued.

If the surtax is not continued, most taxpayers would get a refund of the money withheld during the emergency extension. Fire, Ambulance Levies Winners Statesman News Service LEBANON Residents of Lebanon Rural Fire Protection District Friday approved levies to provide fire and ambulance service in the district for another year. The fire levy, which was above the 6 per cent limitation and provides for a contract with the City of Lebanon, passed 153 to 91. A levy to provide $6,000 for city ambulance service in the area was approved 157 to 82 Gl Dies in Viet MEDFORD (AP) Ralph G. Williams of Medford said Friday his son was killed in Vietnam.

The boy was Spec. 4 Thomas Williams, 20, a resident of Albuquerque, N.M. Woodburn Youth Killed in Crash Statesman News Service WOODBURN A 15-year-old Woodburn youth, driving with a learner's license, was killed about 11 a.m. Friday when his auto crashed off Boones Ferry Road just south of this Marion County community. Killed was Thomas P.

Campbell 15-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas P. Campbell mj 1285 Front St, Woodburn. Sheriff deputy Sam Brown said Campbell and two passengers in the older model car were thrown out as the auto rolled over just south of Belle Passi Road.

Taken to Salem Memorial Hospital by ambulance were Thomas Morley, 16, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Morley, 632 South Settlemier St. and James Pierard, 15, visiting the Campbell boy from Coal City, 111. Pierard suffered a shoulder injury and Morley sustained head cuts and possible fractures.

Their conditions were described as satisfactory. Campbell's death was the 27th traffic fatality in Marion County this year and the 75th in the five-county mid-Wiilamette Valley. (Obituary on page 7.) Apartment Units Due in S. Salem Sun-Valley Homes of Salem plans to start construction Tuesday on a $350,000 apartment complex on a two-acre tract in the 3400 block of Liberty Road S. George Suniga, owner of the firm, said he hopes to complete 36-apartment project by Nov.

15. The site is one block north of Madrona Avenue on the east side of Liberty Road, near where Cardinal Enterprises is constructing additional Metro Arms apartments. The development includes three apartment buildings, a swimming pool, and other recreational facilities, a landscaped courtyard, with water fountains. Half of the units will be one bedroom and the other half two-bedroom, all with built-in vacuum-cleaning equipment, said Suniga. They will be stucco buildings with marble trim.

Sunnier Weekend ing that he didn't know "what we're going to do with that case. It's still under investigation." Kidnap Charge A charge of attempted kidnap probably will be dismissed Monday "in view of the three sentences given today," Gortmaker said. Brudos was accused of trying to kidnap Gloria Jean Smith, 15, Salem, on April 22. Brudos was transported to the prison by sheriff deputies about 5:30 p.m. less than a hour after he was sentenced.

He had waived his right to the usual 48-hour period before sentencing. Brudos appeared before Sloper with his court appointed attorneys Dale Drake and George Rhoten. In asking the judge to grant changes of plea, Drake noted that "the defendant has been examined by psychiatrists an EEG test (of brainwaves) has been run and we also have examined his prior medical histories." Able to Assist "Based upon these reports and our own discussions, we find the defendant is able to assist us in his defense," Drake said. He added that the psychiatric examinations indicated to him that Brudos "was able to differentiate between right and wrong at the time of the alleged commission of the crimes." After allowing the withdrawal of the pleas of innocent and innocent by reason of insanity, Sloper extensively questioned Brudos before accepting the pleas of guilty. The judge asked him to specify how he killed the girls and how long they were "in his company" before the acts were committed.

'With Rope' Brudos said he had Miss Sprinker with him for "about an hour" before he "strangled her with a rope." He said he "did it" to Miss Whitney "with a leather strap" "about 20 minutes" after her abduction. He added that he also used a leather strap to strangle Miss Salee "about one hour" after he abducted her. Sloper requested a more specific explanation as to his use of the strap. Brudos said, "I had a knot in it and just put it around her throat and pulled it tight." Answers Yes "Are you stating to me that you did the alleged acts with premeditation and malice," Sloper asked. "Yes," replied Brudos.

The judge then accepted his pleas of guilty. Earlier in the hearing, Drake told Sloper that he and Rhoten had examined all the evidence, including "many pictures," collected by Gortmaker. "We have found no conflicts in the state's evidence and what our client has said," Drake said. He also indicated that the reports of the defense's three psychiatrists were "essentially the same." Monmouth Budget Wins Statesman Newi Service MONMOUTH A city budget with a tax levy $26,446 outside the 6 per cent limitation was approved by Monmouth voters 200-145 Friday. About 25 per cent of the city's registered voters went to the polls, City Manager Ken Martin said.

The 1969-70 levy will cost $3.83 per $1,000 property valuation, the same as during the current year. Baseball Scores AMERICAN LEAGUE At Baltimore 4, Detroit 1 At Washington 2, Boston 4 At Cleveland 5, New York 1 At Oakland 1, Chicago 9 At California 5, Seattle 3 At Kansas City 9, Minnesota 8 NATIONAL LEAGUE At New York 1, Pittsburgh 3 At Montreal 7, Philadelphia 8 At Chicago 1, St. Louis 3 At Houston 5, Atlanta 4 At San Diego 5, Los Angeles At Cincinnati 4-9, San Francisco 3-1 PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE At Phoenix 3, Portland 5 (11 inninesl At Tucson 6, At Tacoma 4, Eugene 1 Spokane 2 in said was an "emergency" basis and met with Finch late in the day. But no announcement was expected before Saturday morning at the earliest, and then it was certain to come from the White House. There was speculation President Nixon might make the announcement before he ends his overnight visit to New York.

In a 110-word statement handed to newsmen by aides without further commsnt, Finch thus gave up a personal campaign that had raised the possibility of Thought in Store Rain continued to put a damper on mid-Willamette V' A rincn Yield for Chief Aide Valley residents Friday, but McNary Field weather mm WASHINGTON (AP) Secretary of Welfare Robert H. Finch bowed Friday to stiff opposition and abandoned his five-month campaign to make Dr. John H. Knowles his chief lieutenant for health affairs. Dr.

Roger Ege-berg of the University of Southern California was reportedly the compromise choice. The successful fight against Knowles was waged by ruling elements of organized medicine and Senate Republican Leader Everett M. Dirksen of Illinois. Egeberg, 65-year-old dean of the USC School of Medicine flew to Washington on what his office men predict the weekend should be sunnier. Rainfall from Sunday to 10 p.m.

Friday totaled 2.51 inches. There was no rain before that in June. There was .24 of an inch of rain Friday. Weathermen forecast brief periods of clearing today and tonight and sunny skies Sunday with a few isolated showers. Highs will be 67 today and near 70 Saturday.

On the Oregon Coast variable cloudiness with occasional showers are expected Saturday and Sunday, Associated Press reports. The Weather Forecast: Showers, brief periods of clearing today snd tonight. High today 67, near 70 Sunday. Low tonight 50. (Complete report on page 2.) dismay" of Finch's decision.

A spokesman for the American Medical Association at the AMA's Chicago headquarters said there would be no Friday comment from there. At a news conference Friday in Boston where he is director of the Massachusetts General Hospital, the 43-year-old Knowles blamed a small group of members of the American Medical Association for blocking his nomination. "In all modesty," he said, "this is the only group the trustees of the AMA and AM-PAC-the AMA's Political Ac Wirephoto 9. I (Additional details on page 7.).