The Ten Most Popular Places to Dump a Body in the Columbia River Gorge (1998)
The idea for, "The Ten Most Popular Places to Dump a Body In the Columbia River Gorge," was born during the summer of 1996, while I was on assignment for the L.A. Times Magazine with photographer Robbie McClaran. The story was about the Happy Face Killer, Keith Jesperson. On January 22, 1990, the partially clad body of Taunja Bennett was found approximately one mile east of Crown Point on the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Highway. Robbie and I went back to this spot with District Attorney Jim McIntyre to take his portrait for the story. The irony of the beauty of the Gorge and the horror of the crime struck me; I felt compelled to find if this happens on a regular basis. This series is a result of my findings by virtue of the generosity of Supervisor Detective, Sergeant Gary Muncy of the Multnomah County Sheriff's Department. As indicated by the edge vignette and black border, each image is printed full frame to affect a more documentary feel, even though the central context of this project is traditional landscape photography. The images were made with an 8x10" wooden view camera and printed using an 8x10" enlarger on to silver gelatin paper.