A search for the remains of Jamie Grissim, who investigators believe is a victim of 1970s Clark County serial killer Warren Leslie Forrest, yielded no results on Saturday, April 4.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office renewed efforts to solve the decades-old cold case as search crews and human remains detection dogs searched an area near Dole Valley Road a mile or so north of the Rock Creek Campground.
The search comes nearly 55 years after Grissim vanished while walking home from Fort Vancouver High School in December 1971.
Forrest, now 76, is currently serving two life sentences for the 1974 murders of Krista Blake and Martha Morrison. Authorities have long considered him a suspect in multiple cases involving missing or murdered women in Clark County during the early 1970s.
Leading the efforts is cold case detective Douglas Maas, who has been involved in the investigation for decades and was the first deputy to interview a surviving victim at Lacamas Lake Regional Park in the 1970s.
The current search focuses on a specific area near the Dole Valley Bridge, a location investigators say is being examined with greater precision than in previous efforts. Maas said a recently located witness helped narrow the search area significantly.
According to Maas, the witness — who was 17 years old at the time — reported encountering a young female deceased in the woods in December 1971. The account, never reported to law enforcement, was passed down within the witness’s family for decades, and was only recently revisited after investigators were able to locate and interview him directly.
The witness provided detailed, credible and consistent information that allowed Maas and the cold case team to narrow down the search area and have a precise sighting area of within 100 feet.
Maas said while standing the precise location of the reported sighting of a woman’s body that being there is “borderline spiritual” as he also added the case has always crossed his mind.
“I can say over the years I can’t remember ever going much more than a week or two without it on my mind,” Maas said.
Maas said the location aligns with other evidence tied to the case, including where Grissim’s identification was found in 1972 and where the remains of Morrison and Carol Valenzuela were found roughly 1,500 feet away in 1974.
“This is the first time ever in all these years we know with great precision where to start the search,” Maas told reporters, adding that the general area has been combed over at least seven times before.
The search effort included approximately 35 search and rescue personnel and five specialized canine teams from around the state that are trained in detecting historic human remains. The dogs are capable of identifying buried remains that may be decades old.
In addition to canine units, teams were using advanced GPS mapping technology to identify areas where environmental factors such as flooding or animal activity.
Maas also acknowledged that the remains belonging to other victims of Forrest could be discovered during searches of the area.
“This was his hunting ground,” Maas said.
Maas noted that previous searches in the area were broader and lacked the level of detail now available.
“The bridge and the creek have never been searched because we never had any specific information that that’s where she was,” Maas said.
Even with the improved technology and focused search area, Maas and Clark County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Sergeant Matt Volker cautioned that immediate answers and evidence were unlikely and that any potential findings would require extensive forensic analysis, which ended up being the case once the search concluded. Volker confirmed that no evidence was found and the cold case team will evaluate the next steps in the case.
The case remains complex and resource-intensive. Investigators are also continuing to examine evidence collected in the 1970s, including hair samples recovered from Forrest’s vehicle that Maas hopes could tie Forrest to Valenzuela and Grissim, if not another victim. However, advanced DNA testing is costly, with estimates reaching thousands of dollars per hair sample.
Despite the challenges, Maas said the search represents a critical step forward in a case that has remained unresolved for more than half a century.
Grissim’s family has remained engaged in efforts to keep the case active, working with investigators and raising awareness over the years. Maas said recovering her remains would provide long-awaited closure.
“This has lived with the family for all these years,” Maas said.
Maas said prior to the search that if no remains were located, investigators plan to continue pursuing other avenues, including forensic testing and ongoing interviews. Maas also expressed hope that there will be a day when Forrest provides further information into the crimes he is suspected of.
“He’s got nothing to lose at this point by just simply helping our investigation and helping the families get some level of closure,” Maas said.
