Police ask for any information that may help investigators solve Gresham womans disappearance

BREAKING NEWS: The Gresham Police Department will be holding at press conference tonight at 10 p.m. to announce new developments in the search for 21-year-old Whitney Heichel.

Visit out website this evening for a full report of the developments.

Police are examining a cell phone found last night that belongs to a missing 21-year-old Gresham woman who disappeared Tuesday morning.

Children playing in a field near a Troutdale apartment complex four miles from Whitney Heichel's apartment found the phone and a parent reported it to police at 5:24 p.m., said Lt. Claudio Grandjean, Gresham police spokesman, at a press conference Friday morning.

"Obviously, that's a very favorable find," Grandjean said of the cell phone. "It's a smart phone so we'll be able to see who's handled the phone and where it's been." The phone also is being processed for fingerprints and DNA evidence.

The Troutdale Terrace Apartments, 701 S.W. 257th Ave., where the phone was found, is now a “key” area because it is between a gas station where Heichel's ATM card was used shortly after her disappearance and the Wood Village Wal-Mart where her car was abandoned.

Today, police are searching the apartment complex and continue to search Larch Mountain, which they've been searching since Thursday, Oct. 18.

“We didn't complete that to our satisfaction, so we're going to continue that today,” Grandjean said.

Police received more than 50 tips overnight, in addition to nearly 70 tips that the East County Major Crimes Team has been sifting through and investigating since the young woman disappeared.

Volunteers with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office search and rescue team also are canvassing areas where they think Heichel may have been.

Heichel was last seen by her husband at 6:45 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16, as she left home for her 7 a.m. shift at a nearby Starbucks — just a two minute drive from their unit at the Heatherwood Apartments in the 700 block of Southwest Mount Hood Highway.

On Thursday, Oct. 18 — while detectives searched Larch Mountain after searching Dodge Park the day before — members of Heichel’s family made an emotional appearance at a press conference in which police updated the media on the woman’s suspicious disappearance.

Police believe Heichel’s car was driven to Larch Mountain in East Multnomah County and Dodge Park in Sandy on the day she disappeared, said Lt. Claudio Grandjean, Gresham police spokesman.

On Wednesday, Oct. 17, detectives from Gresham, Troutdale, Fairview, Multnomah County, Clackamas County and Oregon State Police searched Dodge Park, and on Thursday, Oct. 18, they searched Larch Mountain.

Due to the hilly terrain and thick vegetation on Larch Mountain, a plane from the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office also is being used in the search.

Rumors that the medical examiner was at the Larch Mountain search area and that a body was found are not true, Grandjean said.

Investigators are working around the clock and have recovered several items that are “promising and important to us,” Grandjean said.

But whether they’re related to the case is still under investigation, said Gresham Police Chief Craig Junginger.

The state crime lab also is processing forensics from the missing woman’s vehicle, which was found abandoned at the Wood Village Wal-Mart.

On Friday morning, Grandjean said detectives have not identified any person of interest or suspects in the case. When a reporter asked if Heichel's husband has been cleared as a suspect, Grandjean said, "Nobody's been totally cleared." Although the disappearance has been treated as a criminal investigation since the start, “We still don’t know what the nature of this is yet,” he said.

Jim Vaughn, a spokesman for the missing woman’s family, was unable to attend Friday's press conference. But on Thursday afternoon he said her friends and relatives remain optimistic. “We’re not giving up,” he said. “We are keeping positive about this whole situation.”

“This case has had a tremendous impact on our community,” Junginger said, citing flyers in store windows, blogs and even billboards around the city. “...Although we are a large Oregon city, we still have that small community feel that cares about each other. We are committed to aggressively pursue Whitney’s disappearance until we can bring her back home.”

During the press conference Lorilei Ritmiller, Heichel’s mother, held her husband Randy’s hand while hugging Clint, her missing daughter’s 28-year-old husband, with her other arm. “We’re here to show support for Clinton, who loves his wife,” she said.

When asked to describe the kind of person her daughter is, Ritmiller paused for a few moments and fought back tears. “She’s not a picture, she’s not a story,” she said. “She’s our daughter. She’s a wife. She’s a sister. She has five sisters and a brother.

“She’s sunshine in our heart.”

Heichel’s nickname is “Mama” because she took care of everyone and has wanted to be a mother since she was 2, when her little sister came home from the hospital.

“As a mother, I’m begging you, if there’s anything you might know, let the police know,” Ritmiller said. “ ...She loves her husband. And she’s out there.”

As Ritmiller spoke, Heichel’s husband began to cry. After Ritmiller returned to her seat, a reporter asked Clint if he would like to say anything.

He approached the podium, still weeping. “What do I say,” he said, gestured toward his wife’s enlarged driver’s license photo displayed for the television cameras. He paused as if he were about to keep talking, but then stopped, overcome with emotion. Again, he collected himself and tried to continue but broke down in tears. “I’m sorry,” he said, before stepping away from the podium.

The two were married in January 2010 and met through their church. They are Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Heichel’s husband called 9-1-1 just before 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16, to report her missing after she failed to show up for work at a Starbucks near East Powell Boulevard and Southeast Burnside Street.

He was the last person who saw her at about 6:45 a.m. as she left their apartment in the 700 block of Southeast Mount Hood Highway, just minutes from her work.

Detectives confirmed that her ATM card was used at a Troutdale gas station at Southeast 257th Avenue and Stark Street at 9:14 a.m. Police are investigating other possible transactions at other locations, as well, Grandjean said.

The woman’s vehicle — a black 1999 Ford Explorer with tinted taillights — was also at the gas station. The car was discovered abandoned at 11:17 a.m. in the Wood Village Wal-Mart parking lot at 23500 N.E. Sandy Blvd. Its front passenger window was broken.

Heichel is 5-foot-2-inches tall and weighs about 120 pounds. Anyone with information about the case is urged to call the Gresham Police Department tip line at 503-618-2719.