WARNING!: Description below may be disturbing to some readers.

This view is down the Holman Lane Trail in Forest Park outside Portland, Oregon.  Back in the day this used to be a driveable road that often led to secluded lover's lanes but now they have been reverted to hiking trails.  

This is the approximate area of the Peyton/Allan murders that took place on November 26, 1960.  There is one photo showing the location of the car in the woods marked as NW Mountain View Park Drive which may(?) now be part of the Holman Lane trail.  Over 60 years have elapsed so there's no certainly of where the true crime scene was unless I had access to restricted information.

Larry Peyton & Beverly Allan were both 19 year old college students that were dating.  They had made plans to go shopping at Lloyd Center in downtown Portland but never made it there.  It wasn't until the next day that two Multnomah County sheriff's deputies were patrolling the park for stolen cars when they found Larry Peyton's body at 9:32pm slumped in the front seat.  His 1949 Ford car was lying along an embankment in a forested setting just like this.  There severity of his death was horrific with 23 stab wounds & a portion of his skull caved in.  There was evidence of a struggle before his death w/ a number of clues.  Beverly Allan was missing from the scene, however her coat & purse which contained $11.00 were inside the car.  A pair of crushed women's glasses & a broken women's necklace were also found inside as well as a portion of a fingernail.  A knife was lying on the hood of the car & Peyton's penknife was on the ground outside.  A single bullet hole was discovered in the car's windshield, determined to have been fired from inside the car.  There was blood evidence both inside & outside the vehicle but no gun was ever located.  The keys to Peyton's car were nearby in the brush.

On January 9, 1961, the remains of Beverly Allan were found 30 miles west of Portland in a ravine along the Sunset Highway (Highway 26) by a road maintenance worker.  She was lying face down & was nude from the waist up, wearing only dark grey stockings.  One of her shoes, her ski sweater, and a blouse were lying nearby & her hands were bound with green nylon cord.  Near her body was a plastic sheet covered in blood & there were signs she had been sexually assaulted.  The partial fingernail found in Peyton's car matched a remaining nail on Allan's finger.

Approximately 2,292 individuals were questioned over the investigation.  A total of 453 suspects were considered including the Zodiac Killer (as he had a similar modus operandi).  In 1968, Carl & Edward Jorgenson, as well as Robert Brom were considered high suspects & an indictment was brought up against them.  They were tipped off by Nikki Essex, a woman who claimed to have information regarding the murders.  The three men were arrested with a trial beginning in November 1968 to which they protested their arrests & pled not guilty.  After a series of faulty court proceedings, Edward Jorgenson was convicted & sentenced to life imprisonment plus 25 years while Carl Jorgenson was acquitted & set free.  Brom was convicted of first degree murder of Peyton & sentenced to life imprisonment plus 25 years.  In 1972 both Jorgenson & Brom filed for appeals claiming Essex was psychologically unstable and had not undergone a competency evaluation before testifying in court.  However they were denied a review.  Brom was also denied a bid for parole & had filed for a second appeal in 1975 claiming an attorney failed to represent him.  Later on Edward Jorgenson was released on parole after serving three years in prison & Brom after seven years.  In January 1976 they filed for relief petitions seeking exoneration in the murder charges.  Some today believe law enforcement did not actually believe the two were guilty, hence their early release.  There was also a lot of mishandling on the part of law enforcement of the crime scene.

As of 2021 the deaths of Larry Peyton & Beverly Allan remains unsolved.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Larry_Peyton_and_Beverly_Allan