Stephanie Elizabeth Condon, 14 10/30/98 [REMAINS FOUND/ARREST MADE]

[nanabillie]

http://www.pollyklaas.org/missing/kids/page.jsp?itemID=27044391 This page can be printed as a flyer. Please print and circulate!

Missing Child
http://www.pollyklaas.org/missing/old-images/a-e/condon.jpg


Stephanie Elizabeth Condon



http://www.pollyklaas.org/images/pdf.gif To view a printable flyer in Adobe Acrobat Format, Condon5ap18.pdf (http://www.pollyklaas.org/missing/kids/pdf/pdf1/Condon5ap18.pdf). To save the flyer on your computer to print later, right click the link and "Save Link/Target As." Please make copies and distribute!If you have information concerning this case, please contact:
The Douglas County (OR) Sheriff's Office (541) 440-4463
or The Polly Klaas® Foundation (800) 587-4357
Missing child information:
Type of Abduction: Endangered Missing
Date Missing: 10/31/98
Missing from: Myrtle Creek, OR
Date of Birth: 10/8/84
Age at disappearance: 14 years old
Race: Caucasian
Sex: Female
Height: 5’ 2”
Weight: 120 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde
Other: Last seen wearing pajama bottoms and a white T-shirt, with no shoes.
Circumstances: Stephanie was baby sitting twin two year old girls at a Tri City home. When the parent of the infants arrived home at around 1:30am, Stephanie was unable to be located. FOUL PLAY SUSPECTED. New Information:
Anyone who may have seen Mr. Hill or his vehicle around 161 Henry Street, in the Tri City area, during the evening of October 30th into the morning hours of October 31, 1998, is asked to contact either of the numbers listed here.

We are also interested in speaking with anyone who has seen Mr. Hill or his vehicle on any back road during or since that time.
Suspect in Stephanie Condon’s Disappearance
Dale Wayne Hill
D.O.B.: 2/1/70
Race: Caucasian
Sex: Male
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 175 lbs.
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Green
Other: Wears gold metal framed glasses
Mr. Hill is in custody on unrelated charges with bail set at $1,000,000
Vehicle Description
Year: 1991
Make: Ford
Model: F-150 4x4 Extra Cab
Color: Maroon over Red over Maroon with gray and black graphic stripes
Style: Sunroof and Visor over windshield and louvered 5th Wheel style tailgate
License #: 986-APQ Oregon plates

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© 2003 Polly Klaas Foundation, P.O. Box 800, Petaluma, CA 94953, (800) 587-HELP




http://dce.nextstat.com/logging.php?ac=945&NS_c=yes&NS_pn=&NS_vpn=&NS_uuid=&NS_pt=Stephanie%20Elizabeth%20Condon&NS_ru=http%3A//www.helpfindthemissing.org/forum/newthread.php%3Fdo%3Dpostthread%26f%3D124&NS_rn=78619&NS_sw=1024&NS_sh=768&NS_sc=32&NS_js=1.3&NS_vp=http%3A//www.pollyklaas.org/missing/kids/page.jsp%3FitemID%3D27044391&NS_tz=300&NS_la=en-us&NS_tid=&NS_tamt=&NS_cid=

[Nut44x4]

I have posted some information regarding skeletal remains found near Glide, OR in Michael Mallory's thread, but this link talks about Stephanie Condon...so I'll drop the link here too.
See 'comments'
http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20090317/NEWS/903179888/1063/NEWS&ParentProfile=1055&title=Human%20remains%20investigation%20continues% 20in%20Glide%20area

I still think it is Michael.

[sarahhod]

Police ID remains of Oregon girl who vanished in 1998

09:57 AM PDT on Wednesday, March 25, 2009

By TERESA BLACKMAN, kgw.com Staff

RIDDLE, Ore. -- Police have identified the remains of a girl from Riddle, Oregon who disappeared nearly 11 years ago; the suspected victim of an abduction.
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/M_IMAGE.11fd101b4ff.93.88.fa.d0.6d8dfce5.jpg KGW photo
Stephanie Condon in a photo from family members.

Stephanie Condon was 14 when she vanished from a family member's home while babysitting on the night before Halloween in 1998.
The case had gone cold until Friday, March 13th, 2009, when a man exercising his dogs on a remote forest road in the Glide area spotted what appeared to be human skeletal remains and alerted the sheriff’s office. Investigators spent over a week studying the remains and dental records of missing persons until the medical examiner positively identified the deceased as Stephanie Condon, according to information released by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office Wednesday.
Investigators also said they recovered evidence from the site around Stephanie's remains, but they don't yet know exactly how she died.
"The cause and manner of death has not yet been established. Stephanie’s remains continue to be examined in an attempt to make that determination," said Dwes Hutson with the sheriff's office. "The abduction and murder of a child in this community is shocking for us all. There has never been a more important investigation in many of our careers, and never has there been a more important break in an investigation such as the discovery of Stephanie’s remains and related evidence."
After the girl disappeared back in 1998, the Condon family set up a Missing girl Web site (http://www.findstephanienow.com/) with photos and links to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, where people could help the investigation by providing anonymous tips. But no solid leads were ever found.
A Cold Case Squad was also assigned to help with the investigation, and a large reward was offered by the FBI and a private source for information leading to an arrest. On the tenth anniversary of her disappearance, the amount of the reward was raised to $25,000 and Condon's family held a candlelight vigil at the Riddle city park.
"Over the past 10 years we have desperately wanted to find Stephanie to offer her family some closure, and we knew we had to find her remains to bring this case to a successful resolution. This is the break in the case we have been looking for since her disappearance," Hutson said.



http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_032509_news_missing_girl_condon.6d628e32.html

[sarahhod]

Human Remains ID'd As Girl Missing Since '98

Stephanie Condon Disappeared While Baby-Sitting In Southern Oregon

POSTED: 8:06 am PDT March 25, 2009
UPDATED: 9:41 am PDT March 25, 2009


ROSEBURG, Ore. -- Human remains found earlier this month in southern Oregon have been identified as those of a teenage girl who disappeared from a home while baby-sitting more than a decade ago.Stephanie Condon, then 14, disappeared in Myrtle Creek while baby-sitting for a relative Oct. 30, 1998. Foul play is believed to have been involved and detectives have long investigated her disappearance as a homicide.Her remains were found March 13 by Joseph Mellin, who was walking his dogs near Little River Road in Glide, according to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. Deputies said Mellin stopped to let the dogs rest near a clear-cut and found what he believed to be skeletal remains. Sheriff's deputies were called to help recover the remains.Over the course of the next week, the Stephanie Condon Task Force worked to recover the remains from private timber land off a nearby forest road. The remains were sent to the Oregon State Police Crime Laboratory to be examined and deputies announced the identification at a news conference Wednesday morning. http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/ibs.ptl1.news/local;kw=news+square+19009964;ad=true;pgtype=detai l;tile=9;sz=300x250;ord=123456789? (http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/ibs.ptl1.news/local;kw=news+square+19009964;ad=true;pgtype=detai l;tile=9;sz=300x250;ord=123456789?) Authorities said they used dental records to identify the remains as those of Condon.Despite the discovery, the cause and manner of Condon's death remains unknown. Deputies said they plan to continue to examine the remains in hopes of determining the cause.Investigators said they hope the recovery of the remains will be instrumental in bringing the case to a resolution that includes the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Condon's death.In 2008, the FBI and a reward foundation offered a $25,000 reward for information that would lead to an arrest or conviction of the person responsible for Condon's disappearance.The family also started a Web site dedicated to finding Condon at www.findstephanienow.com. (http://www.findstephanienow.com/)Anyone with information about the case is asked to call 541-957-2099.

http://www.kptv.com/news/19009964/detail.html#-

[sarahhod]

Sheriff: Skeletal remains belong to girl, 14, missing since 1998


http://media.kval.com/images/kpic%20condon.jpg



Hiker found remains on logging road (http://www.kval.com/news/local/41321032.html)



Story Published: Mar 25, 2009 at 9:12 AM PDT

By KPIC Web Staff

ROSEBURG, Ore. -- Skeletal remains found last week on an abandoned logging in Oregon belong to a 14-year-old girl who disappeared in 1998, according to investigators.
The Douglas County Sherrif's Office held a press conference Wednesday morning and confirmed that the remains found near Glide, Ore., are those of Stephanie Condon.
Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said that no cause of death has been announced, but that the remains are still being examined. Hanlin said that the investigation is ongoing, and he still hopes to make an arrest in the case.

http://media.kval.com/images/condon-2.jpg

Condon disappeared the night of Oct. 30, 1998. She was 14 years old at the time.
Condon was babysitting for her cousin Cheryl Richey at Richey's home on Henry Street in Tri City the night of her dissapearance. Richey returned home around 1:30 a.m. and found her twins sleeping in their beds. She also found Stephanie's backpack, schoolbook and clothes. Stephanie was gone.
The remains were found near a logging road (http://www.kval.com/news/local/41321032.html) in the Little River area near Glide, Ore., by a hiker who was walking his dog on Friday, March 13. The remains were sent to the Oregon State Police Crime Lab for identification.
Stephanie's family launched a Web site (http://www.findstephanienow.com/) about the case on the 9th anniversary of her dissapearance.
Condon's story has been featured on various national programs over the years, including an episode of the CBS show Without a Trace, as well as appearances by family members on The Early Show on CBS.


http://www.kval.com/news/local/41831687.html

[sarahhod]

:1222423::1222423::1222423: Rest in Peace Stephanie.

[sarahhod]

PRESS RELEASE: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Last Update: 10:04 am


http://www.kmtr.com/media/news/3/4/e/34e285df-48c3-4d53-8f10-395d0ee745a0/Story.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:void%280%29;) Stephanie Condon's remains were found March 13th, near Glide.


On Wednesday, March 25th, 2009, a press conference was held at the Douglas County Sheriff's Office to announce recent developments regarding the October 30th, 1998 case involving the abduction of 14-year-old Stephanie Elizabeth Condon. Agency leaders from the Sheriff's Office, District Attorney's Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Oregon State Police and Roseburg Police Department were present at the press conference today. This represents the collaborative effort and support this investigation deserves, but it also demonstrates our profound commitment to successfully solve this tragic crime.

On Friday, March 13th, 2009, a Glide area resident, Joseph Mellin, was exercising his dogs on a remote forest road off Little River Road in the Glide area. He stopped to let the dogs rest near a clear-cut and found what he believed was human skeletal remains. The Sheriff’s Office responded to the area and determined the remains were human.

Members of the Stephanie Condon Task Force, which includes investigators from the Sheriff’s Office, Roseburg Police Department, Oregon State Police, FBI, and the District Attorney’s Office worked for over a week recovering the remains. The remains were located on private timber land off of a forest road, approximately 2.2 miles from the 9000 block of Little River Road.

On Thursday, March 19th, the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office used dental records to positively identify the remains as Stephanie Elizabeth Condon.

The recovery effort is now complete. On Sunday, March 22nd, task force members completed the recovery of Stephanie’s remains and the seizure of evidence from the recovery site. Investigators believe that the recovery of Stephanie’s remains and the seizure of evidence will be instrumental in bringing this case to a successful resolution, including the arrest and prosecution of the person responsible for Stephanie’s death.

The cause and manner of death has not yet been established. Stephanie’s remains continue to be examined in an attempt to make that determination.

This has been a priority investigation from the beginning. The abduction and murder of a child in this community is shocking for us all. There has never been a more important investigation in many of our careers, and never has there been a more important break in an investigation such as the discovery of Stephanie’s remains and related evidence. Over the past 10 years we have desperately wanted to find Stephanie to offer her family some closure, and we knew we had to find her remains to bring this case to a successful resolution. This is the break in the case we have been looking for since her disappearance.

http://www.kmtr.com/news/local/story/PRESS-RELEASE-Douglas-County-Sheriffs-Office/eiRkV5ZnMk2yuIQ1VYrHLQ.cspx

[packy]

Thank you for the update, Sarah. So sorry it ended this way.

My condolences to Stephanie's family and friends.

[Faith]

RIP Stephanie-:1222423:

[Faith]

http://www.findstephanienow.com/graphics/baby.jpg
Our Beautiful Baby
http://www.findstephanienow.com/graphics/school-pix.jpg
1st Grade
http://www.findstephanienow.com/graphics/2nd-grade.jpg
2nd Grade
http://www.findstephanienow.com/graphics/school-pink-dress.jpg
Pretty in Pink




http://www.findstephanienow.com/graphics/easter-eggs.jpg
Easter Egg Hunt
http://www.findstephanienow.com/graphics/steph.jpg
3rd Grade
http://www.findstephanienow.com/graphics/at-park.jpg
At the Park
http://www.findstephanienow.com/graphics/fish.jpg
Fishing with Dad







http://www.findstephanienow.com/graphics/circus.jpg
At the Circus
http://www.findstephanienow.com/graphics/library.jpg
At the Library
http://www.findstephanienow.com/graphics/w-cheetahs.jpg
Stephanie and her Cheetahs
http://www.findstephanienow.com/graphics/w-friends.jpg
Steph and Friends
http://www.findstephanienow.com/graphics/volleyball2.jpg
Volleyball
http://www.findstephanienow.com/graphics/volleyball.jpg
"I Love Playing Volleyball"
http://www.findstephanienow.com/graphics/volley-team.jpg
Stephanie's Volleyball Team


http://www.findstephanienow.com/

:sad0119:

[Faith]

On October 30, 1998, Stephanie was baby sitting for her cousin in Tri-City, Oregon. Stephanie was a straight "A" student, athlete and was not involved with alcohol or illegal drugs.


Stephanie was abducted from the residence in the late night hours. The two year old twin girls Stephanie had been baby sitting at the time, were located in the residence asleep. The Douglas County Sheriff's Office conducted an extensive search with negative results. This area is described as a rural residence neighborhood with easy access to Interstate 5 and Old Highway 99 South.


http://www.findstephanienow.com/graphics/dwhillpix.jpg
Shortly after the investigation began, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office named Dale Wayne Hill as a suspect in the abduction of Stephanie. It was reported that Dale Hill was driving a maroon over red with grey and black graphics, Ford pickup bearing Oregon license plate "986APQ" at the time.



The Douglas County Sheriff's Office investigation revealed that Dale Wayne Hill also owned a European American Armory snub nose .38 caliber revolver bearing the serial number of "1516967". It was reported that Dale Hill told Sheriff's Office detectives he had sold this revolver to an unknown person in a bar in the Myrtle Creek area back in 1998.


The case is actively being investigated by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigations.


http://www.findstephanienow.com/caseinfo.htm

[Faith]

From AMW

Stephanie Elizabeth Condon DECEASED

A Halloween Mystery Still Unsolved

The night before Halloween 1998 14-year-old Stephanie Condon was babysitting twin two-year-old girls at her aunt's house in Myrtle Creek, Oregon. It would be the last time anyone would see the high school student alive.

Cops say sometime during the evening, Condon disappeared. When a relative returned home at 1:30 am, the twins were accounted for and unharmed, but Stephanie was no where to be found.

The residence showed no sign of forced entry and neighbors reported to cops that nothing they heard seemed out of the ordinary during the course of the evening. The front door was locked and the television and lights were left on. Also, Stephanie's backpack, containing her homework, clothes, money, and shoes, was left inside the home. For the last nine years, authorities have searched high and low for clues as to Condon's whereabouts, but have come up with few leads.

Stephanie would be 22-years-old today. At the time of her disappearance, she was 5'2", weighed 120 lbs, and was reportedly wearing Winnie the Pooh pajamas without shoes and a white t-shirt. The honors student also had a small scar above her left eye.

Authorities viewed Dale Wayne Hill as a possible suspect in Condon's case. He was 28-years-old at the time and told police that he had seen Stephanie while she was babysitting on the night she went missing. Hill had once dated Stephanie's aunt and told detectives that he had stopped by that evening to see her. Hill denied having harmed Stephanie and he was never charged with any crime relating to her case. He was imprisoned in 2004 on a robbery charge and was later paroled. Douglas County Sheriff's Office still considers Dale Hill a person-of-interest.

Furthermore, police note that a .38 caliber snub-nosed revolver that belonged to Hill was never found during the investigation. Detectives believe that finding the weapon could be a means to unraveling the mystery surrounding Stephanie's disappearance.

Cops say that an Aztec-themed comforter was also missing from Hill's residence around the time that Condon went missing and maintain that this is another element that could help to find her.

On Mar. 13, 2009, a man hiking in the Gilde, Ore. area discovered human remains that were later identified as Stephanie Condon's.

http://media.amw.com/multimedia/fileRepository/db/472/152/content_photo_horizontal2.jpg A .38 caliber revolver belonging to Dale Hill was never found during the police investigation.
http://www.amw.com/images/magglass_red.gif View Larger (javascript:void(0);)




http://www.amw.com/missing_children/brief.cfm?id=24460

[Faith]

REWARD

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for new information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of the person or people responsible for the disappearance of Stephanie Condon.


http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/condon_se.htm

[Grande]

BREAKING NEWS: Dayton arrest connected to 1998 Oregon girl's disappearance
F.T. Norton

March 25, 2009

The arrest this morning of a Dayton man is connected to the 1998 disappearance of a 14-year-old girl whose remains have been positively identified as those found two weeks ago by a hiker in Glide, Ore.

Lyon County officers, accompanied by members of the Douglas County Oregon Sheriff's Office, Oregon State Police and FBI, arrested Dale Wayne Hill, 39, a convicted burglar, just before 10 a.m. on suspicion of failing to register as an felon.

Hill is the prime suspect in the disappearance of Stephanie Condon, 14, who went missing the night of Oct. 30, 1998, while she was babysitting.

Hill had once dated Condon's aunt and told authorities he stopped by the house where Condon was babysitting, but that he had nothing to do with her disappearance, according to published reports.

He was convicted of an unrelated series of burglaries shortly after her disappearance and served about six years in prison before being released in 2004. Hill was never charged in Condon's disappearance.

Her whereabouts were unknown until March 13, when a man was walking his dog remote forest road in Glide, Ore. found a human skull, according to the Douglas County Oregon Sheriff's Office.

During a press conference in Roseburg, Ore., this morning, Douglas County Oregon Sheriff John Hanlin confirmed that the remains were those of Condon.

Lyon County Sheriff's Capt. Rob Hall said Lyon County was alerted to Hill's presence in the community by Oregon authorities. A check of his status revealed he had failed to register as a felon, said Hall.

Officers contacted Hill at his apartment in the 300 block of Dayton Valley Road just before 10 a.m. and took him into custody without incident.

He had been living in Carson City on Corbett Street, but had recently moved to Lyon County, said Carson Sheriff Ken Furlong.

A cadre of Oregon officers that were at the Lyon County Sheriff's substation in Dayton this morning declined to comment on Hills arrest, but one of the men confirmed they were members of the Douglas County Oregon Sheriff's Office, FBI and Oregon State Police.

Hill is being held on $1,132 bail. It's not clear if he will be charged with the disappearance and suspected murder of Condon.

http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20090325/NEWS/903259958/1070&ParentProfile=1058&title=BREAKING%20NEWS%20%20Dayton%20arrest%20conne cted%20to%201998%20Oregon%20girl's%20disappearance

[CSAFD]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/Maverick1862/murder%20victims/StephanieCondon.jpg

Human Remains ID'd As Girl Missing Since '98
Stephanie Condon Disappeared While Baby-Sitting In Southern Oregon

Mar. 25, 2009

ROSEBURG, Ore. -- Human remains found earlier this month in southern Oregon have been identified as those of a teenage girl who disappeared from a home while baby-sitting more than a decade ago.

Stephanie Condon, then 14, disappeared in Myrtle Creek while baby-sitting for a relative Oct. 30, 1998. Foul play is believed to have been involved and detectives have long investigated her disappearance as a homicide.

Her remains were found March 13 by Joseph Mellin, who was walking his dogs near Little River Road in Glide, according to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. Deputies said Mellin stopped to let the dogs rest near a clear-cut and found what he believed to be skeletal remains. Sheriff's deputies were called to help recover the remains.

Over the course of the next week, the Stephanie Condon Task Force worked to recover the remains from private timber land off a nearby forest road. The remains were sent to the Oregon State Police Crime Laboratory to be examined and deputies announced the identification at a news conference Wednesday morning.

Authorities said they used dental records to identify the remains as those of Condon.

Despite the discovery, the cause and manner of Condon's death remains unknown. Deputies said they plan to continue to examine the remains in hopes of determining the cause.

Investigators said they hope the recovery of the remains will be instrumental in bringing the case to a resolution that includes the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Condon's death.

In 2008, the FBI and a reward foundation offered a $25,000 reward for information that would lead to an arrest or conviction of the person responsible for Condon's disappearance.

The family also started a Web site dedicated to finding Condon at www.findstephanienow.com.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call 541-957-2099.

http://www.kptv.com/news/19009964/detail.html

[Faith]

Dale Wayne Hill

Dale Wayne Hill is described by Douglas County authorities as the prime suspect in the case, and the last person to see Stephanie Condon alive.

Dale Wayne Hill was paroled on October 1, 2005.
He is currently living in the Glide, Oregon area.


Douglas County Adult Probation and Parole
Offenders On Supervision
October 1, 2005


Dale Wayne Hill

SID # 12252660

Maximum Date
20071003

City
Glide

Zip
97443

Offense
ROBBERY II

Birth Date
19700201

Height
600

Weight
200

Eyes
HAZ

Hair
BROWN



egov.oregon.gov/DOC/TRANS...county.pdf (http://egov.oregon.gov/DOC/TRANS/CC/douglas/docs/douglas_county.pdf)

http://missing87975.yuku.com/topic/3665

[Faith]

MEDIA RELEASE

DOUGLAS COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Justice Building • Roseburg, Oregon 97470 • (541) 440-4450

John Hanlin
SHERIFF


Date/Time of Release: 03/25/2009 - 09:00
Contact Person: Dwes Hutson
Contact Number: 541-440-4464
Subject: Stephanie Condon Investigation UPDATE
Date/Time of Incident: 03/25/2009 - 09:00
Incident Location: Douglas County Sheriff's Office, Roseburg, OR
Case Number: 98-6083
Missing/Deceased: Condon, Stephanie Elizabeth / dob 10-08-84 / Riddle, Oregon
On Wednesday, March 25th, 2009, a press conference was held at the Douglas County Sheriff's Office to announce recent developments regarding the October 30th, 1998 case involving the abduction of 14-year-old Stephanie Elizabeth Condon. Agency leaders from the Sheriff's Office, District Attorney's Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Oregon State Police and Roseburg Police Department were present at the press conference today. This represents the collaborative effort and support this investigation deserves, but it also demonstrates our profound commitment to successfully solve this tragic crime.

On Friday, March 13th, 2009, a Glide area resident, Joseph Mellin, was exercising his dogs on a remote forest road off Little River Road in the Glide area. He stopped to let the dogs rest near a clear-cut and found what he believed was human skeletal remains. The Sheriff’s Office responded to the area and determined the remains were human.

Members of the Stephanie Condon Task Force, which includes investigators from the Sheriff’s Office, Roseburg Police Department, Oregon State Police, FBI, and the District Attorney’s Office worked for over a week recovering the remains. The remains were located on private timber land off of a forest road, approximately 2.2 miles from the 9000 block of Little River Road.

On Thursday, March 19th, the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office used dental records to positively identify the remains as Stephanie Elizabeth Condon.

The recovery effort is now complete. On Sunday, March 22nd, task force members completed the recovery of Stephanie’s remains and the seizure of evidence from the recovery site. Investigators believe that the recovery of Stephanie’s remains and the seizure of evidence will be instrumental in bringing this case to a successful resolution, including the arrest and prosecution of the person responsible for Stephanie’s death.

The cause and manner of death has not yet been established. Stephanie’s remains continue to be examined in an attempt to make that determination.

This has been a priority investigation from the beginning. The abduction and murder of a child in this community is shocking for us all. There has never been a more important investigation in many of our careers, and never has there been a more important break in an investigation such as the discovery of Stephanie’s remains and related evidence. Over the past 10 years we have desperately wanted to find Stephanie to offer her family some closure, and we knew we had to find her remains to bring this case to a successful resolution. This is the break in the case we have been looking for since her disappearance.

Stephanie Condon http://www.dcso.com/media_pics/condon.jpg (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:viewImage%28%27condon.jpg%27%29) (Click to Enlarge) (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:viewImage%28%27condon.jpg%27%29)


http://www.dcso.com/view_media_N.asp?Media_ID=392

[sarahhod]

ID of teen's remains a tragic end to Ore. mystery

By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man walking his dogs found what investigators and a heartbroken family had sought for more than a decade: the remains of a southern Oregon baby sitter who was just 14 when she vanished in 1998.
Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said Wednesday that the remains found March 13 are those of Stephanie Condon. Nevada authorities assisting in the Oregon investigation arrested a longtime suspect in the case on an unrelated charge around the time Hanlin made his announcement.
"Now, it's really about finding justice for Stephanie," said her father, Marty Condon, as he held back tears at Hanlin's news conference.
She was 14 in October 1998, when she disappeared while baby-sitting her cousin's 2-year-old twins in Riddle, a small town about 180 miles south of Portland.
Investigators say Dale Wayne Hill, who was arrested in Dayton, Nev., on Wednesday on a charge of failure to register as a felon, is the last person known to have seen her alive.
Hanlin said Condon's remains were found by a man was walking his dogs on a logging road near the town of Glide, about 30 miles northeast of Riddle. Joseph Mellin, of Glide, told authorities he found a human skull when he stopped to rest the dogs at the base of a tree.
It took a week to recover all the remains, Hanlin said. The Oregon State Police crime lab confirmed the identification last week through dental records. Au
Hanlin said other significant evidence was found but did not elaborate.
"The family has never forgotten, has never stopped working on trying to find her and who did this," neighbor Carol Linton told the Roseburg News-Review. "They've updated billboards constantly. They've worked constantly to keep her face out there, her name out there. There's relief they finally found her, but it still definitely hurts."
Hill, 39, had been identified from the beginning of the investigation as a suspect. Deputies say he told them he saw the girl the night she vanished when he stopped by the house where she was baby-sitting.
No charges related to Condon's death were filed against Hill as of Wednesday afternoon. Hanlin said the recovery of the remains would lead "the arrest and prosecution of the person responsible for Stephanie's death."
Douglas County Sgt. Aron Alexander said numerous people were investigated "and Hill is the only one who hasn't been cleared. He's still a suspect."
A year after Condon disappeared, deputies said they believed Hill harmed her in retaliation against Cheryl Richey, the mother of the children Condon was watching.
Richey was at a bar with another man the evening Condon vanished. She returned home about 1:30 a.m., finding the twins asleep and Condon gone.
Douglas County sheriff's spokesman Dwes Hutson said Wednesday that Hill and Richey were acquaintances but would not elaborate.
A month after Condon vanished, Hill was arrested and charged with burglary for breaking into a Myrtle Creek home and stealing a pair of women's panties. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to nearly six years in prison.
During the decade of investigation, Douglas County detectives said Hill's .38-caliber handgun was missing, and that Hill told them he had sold it but could not remember to whom.
Search and rescue teams combed back roads near Myrtle Creek, especially in areas where a truck similar to one owned by Hill had been reported by local residents.
Hundreds of clues poured in, from as far away as Kentucky and Missouri and even some foreign countries. The reward fund for information reached $25,000.
"I never expected them to find her," said Kayla McCurry, a high school freshman when Condon disappeared and now a substitute teacher in the Portland area. She remembered classmates feeling kept in the dark at the time.
"It's nice that there's some closure for her family," she said. "This is 10 years of just kind of floating around not knowing."


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jsHS3oMEJxJ0QjoquR64rx301ezwD975BBGG0

[sarahhod]

Oregon authorities to speak with suspect in Stephanie Condon case

http://www.nrtoday.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=NR&Date=20090325&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=903259915&Ref=AR&maxw=300&MaxH=300 (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:NewWindow%28600,700,%27/apps/pbcs.dll/misc?url=/templates/zoom.pbs&Site=NR&Date=20090325&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=903259915&Ref=AR&Z=%27+encodeURIComponent%28%27Dale%20Wayne%20Hill% 27%29+%27&P=%27+encodeURIComponent%28%27%27%29%29;)

Dale Wayne Hill

DAYTON, Nev. — Nevada officials confirmed this afternoon that Oregon authorities are in Nevada to speak with Dale Wayne Hill about the disappearance of Stephanie Condon.

Hill, the sole suspect in the case, was arrested on an unrelated charge this morning.

Law enforcement officers with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, the Oregon State Police and the FBI were in Dayton conducting a follow-up investigation into the decade-old case, according to a press release from the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office. Condon’s remains were found in the Glide area March 13, and were positively identified Thursday.

Douglas County authorities said at a press conference this morning that Hill remains the sole suspect in the case, though no charges have been filed against him.

While assisting the Oregon officers in Nevada, police discovered that Hill, convicted previously of second-degree robbery, had failed to register as a felon in Lyon County.

Hill was taken into custody on the local charge for failing to register and was booked into the Lyon County Jail.

http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20090325/NEWS/903259915/1063/NEWS&ParentProfile=1055&title=Oregon%20authorities%20to%20speak%20with%20s uspect%20in%20Stephanie%20Condon%20case

[nanabillie]

"Be sure your sin will find you out". Numbers 32:23

[CSAFD]

Arrest Connected to 1998 Murder
Mar. 25, 2009

Its a day the Condon family is probably both grateful for and faced with dread.:

"Interviews with us, as you can see this is hard, is going to be limited, because we need time to heal. We need time to get as mentally strong for a potential trial." Martin Condon told a room full of law enforcement and press in Roseburg, Oregon.

It appears Stephainie Condon's family is still in shock after learning remains found two weeks ago in Glide, Oregon are those of the 14-year-old missing since 19-98. And then more news--the prime suspect, 39-year old Dale Wayne Hill, is captured here in Nevada at his apartment in Dayton.

"We actually contacted him in the parking lot. He had exited his apartment. The investigators talked to him for a few minutes and then we confirmed he did have a felony conviction and took him into custody." said Lyon County Sheriff Deputy Rod Hall.

Hill moved to Nevada after being released from prison in 2004. He settled in Dayton, and, according to investigators, was a metal worker at a shop in Mound House. Back in 1998 Condon was dating Stephanie's aunt, and upon Stephanie's disappearance on October 30th he told authorities he had stopped by a house where Stephanie was babysitting. But he claimed he didn't know why she went missing.

We don't know if the remains found connect Stephanie Condon to Dale Hill, or if prosecutors simply needed a body in this case to make an arrest. Hill will utimatley face extradiction to Oregon.

Although he is a suspect in the abuduction and murder of Condon, Lyon County Deputies actually arrested Hill for failing to register as a felon.

http://www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/41863607.html

[sarahhod]

Family mourns death of Stephanie


http://media.kval.com/images/Parents_Reax.jpg


http://media.kval.com/designimages/fisher_videoicon.gif Video (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:openPopup%28%27%2Fr%3F19%3D950%2632%3D3566%26 7%3D134071%2640%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.kval.com% 252Fnews%252Flocal%252F41870777.html%253Fvideo%253 DYHI%2526t%253Da%2641%3DVideo%2BFamily%2Bmourns%2B death%2Bof%2BStephanie%2618%3D0.019421080220657916 %27,%27video%27,%27scrollbars=yes,width=800,height =630,screenx=15,screeny=15%27%29;)

Glide, Ore - Marty Condon is the father of Stephanie Condon. He fights back tears after learning his daughter, who has been missing for ten years, is officially dead. Wednesday, police announced skeletal remains found in some brush are indeed those of Stephanie Condon.

"This is certainly not what any of us was hoping for," says Marty. "But after ten years it's an outcome that we've been trying to prepare for."

Since stephanie's disappearance ten years ago, her family has never stopped looking.

They've organized searches, held candlelight vigils, and posted billboards asking for help.

They also launched the website "findstephanienow.com." The site is filled with pictures, blog posts, and messages from family and friends.

One of the most interesting blog posts is one from October of 2008.
It reads, "I believe Dale Hill had something to do with my daughter's disappearance. I would like to hear from anyone who knows him or use to know him, and why you don't have anything to do with him anymore. There has to be some people from Nevada that look at this site and have met him or work with him. Or some old friends or family members. No one seems to want to defend him so there must be a reason."

Hill has been arrested on unrelated charges but is being held as a suspect in this case.

"We need time to heal," says Marty. "We need time to get as mentally strong for a potential trial."


http://www.kval.com/news/local/41870777.html

[sarahhod]

Hometown: 'You never forgot her'


http://media.kval.com/images/CONDON_THISONE.jpg
Stephanie Condon disappeared in 1998. She was 14. Her remains were found March 13, 2009, near an abandoned logging road.



INTERACTIVE: Investigation timeline (http://www.kval.com/news/content/41861777.html)



Story Published: Mar 25, 2009 at 6:01 PM PDT

By Tom Adams KVAL News

http://media.kval.com/designimages/fisher_videoicon.gif Video (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:openPopup%28%27%2Fr%3F19%3D950%2632%3D3566%26 7%3D134071%2640%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.kval.com% 252Fnews%252Flocal%252F41864837.html%253Fvideo%253 DYHI%2526t%253Da%2641%3DVideo%2BHometown%253A%2B%2 527You%2Bnever%2Bforgot%2Bher%2527%2618%3D0.726980 9487925031%27,%27video%27,%27scrollbars=yes,width= 800,height=630,screenx=15,screeny=15%27%29;)


RIDDLE, Ore. - While the identification of Stephanie Condon's remains weighs heavily on the family, it's also affected people in her hometown. Residents of Riddle say the news is a mixed blessing.

"Every time you passed those big billboards, every time you saw her picture on the wall, you never forgot her," said Carol Linton, co-owner of the hardware store downtown.

That image of Stephanie, frozen in time, won't be forgotten for quite a while in this town of 1,100.
"It's heartbreaking," Linton said, "but I'm glad that they can finally have some closure."
Across town, Mike Roy and Chad Hanson said they are both close friends of the Condon family.

"You always have that hope that she could be found, but at least now that she's found, the family can have some kind of closure and give her a proper burial," said Roy.
"They're great people to be around," Hanson said. "It's too bad that something like this has to happen to such a good family."
For this close-knit community and for all the people who know the Condons, the latest news on the case provides some answers and some closure.

"How on earth did this happen?" LInton said. "How the crime was committed. How he managed to get in and then get her without anybody noticing."
"There's a realization that Stephanie has moved on," said Riddle Schools Superintendent Dave Gianotti, "and I think that's a mixed blessing."

Gianotti says he can't say when the community will be able to move on. Perhaps, he said, when justice is fulfilled.
"They worked hard to bring her home," Linton said. "I'm glad it's over."


http://www.kval.com/news/local/41864837.html

[sarahhod]

Arrest made in Condon case

Last Updated Mar 26, 2009 6:23 AM
[/URL]
A man considered a prime suspect in the death of 14-year-old Stephanie Condon has been arrested in Nevada on unrelated charges, Douglas County deputies said Wednesday. The arrest of Dale Hill is not in connection with the Condon case, according to Douglas County deputies, but Hill remains their prime suspect. Authorities said they plan to continue to investigate the possibility of Hill's involvement in Condon's death. Lt. Rob Hall of the Lyon County Sheriff's Office said Hill was arrested at his apartment in Dayton, Nev., at about 9 a.m. on Wednesday. He is being held in the Lyon County (Nev.) Jail on a charge of failing to register as an ex-convict within 48 hours of moving to the area. His bail is set at $1,132. Condon was 14 years old in 1998 when she disappeared while baby-sitting in Myrtle Creek. Foul play is believed to have been involved and detectives have long investigated her disappearance as a homicide. Her skeletal remains were found less than two weeks ago.

[URL]http://www.kxl.com/tabid/72/itemid/17384/Arrest-made-in-Condon-case.aspx (http://www.kxl.com/DesktopModules/EngagePublish/printerfriendly.aspx?itemId=17384&PortalId=0&TabId=72)

[sarahhod]

The disappearance of Stephanie Condon

Posted by The Oregonian (http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonianextra/about.html) March 25, 2009 14:03PM

VIDEO at Link:-

The life of Stephanie Condon SLIDE SHOW at Link:-

PREVIOUS STORIES
From The Oregonian of Tuesday, Nov. 10, 1998 -- Riddle parents wait, hope for word of missing daughter: (http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonianextra/2009/03/previous_coverage_the_stephani.html#1) Stephanie Condon, 14, disappeared without a trace while baby-sitting for her cousin's twins Halloween weekend
From The Oregonian of Tuesday, Nov. 24, 1998 -- TV show brings no tips in girl's diappearance: (http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonianextra/2009/03/previous_coverage_the_stephani.html#2) A segment on "America's Most Wanted" about a 14-year-old Riddle girl who vanished Oct. 30 fails to elicit new information
From The Oregonian of Wednesday, Dec. 9, 1998 -- Prime suspect is named in disappearance of girl (http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonianextra/2009/03/previous_coverage_the_stephani.html#3)
From The Oregonian of Sunday, Dec. 20, 1998 -- Wish list lingers on missing sister: (http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonianextra/2009/03/previous_coverage_the_stephani.html#4) Martin Condon says the best Christmas present would be the presence of 14-year-old Stephanie Condon
From The Oregonian of Tuesday, Jan. 19, 1999 -- Man denies role in disappearance (http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonianextra/2009/03/previous_coverage_the_stephani.html#5)
From The Oregonian of Friday, Feb. 5, 1999 -- Missing-girl suspect gets term in prison (http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonianextra/2009/03/previous_coverage_the_stephani.html#6)
From The Oregonian of Saturday, Oct. 30, 1999 -- 365 days of frustration in case of missing teen (http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonianextra/2009/03/previous_coverage_the_stephani.html#7)
From The Associated Press of Friday, Nov. 2, 2007 -- Mother hopes Web site leads to lost daughter (http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonianextra/2009/03/previous_coverage_the_stephani.html#8)
From The Oregonian of Tuesday, Nov. 10, 1998 -- Riddle parents wait, hope for word of missing daughter: Stephanie Condon, 14, disappeared without a trace while baby-sitting for her cousin's twins Halloween weekend
Marty and Christine Condon got the news via an early morning phone call on Halloween. Stephanie, their 14-year-old daughter, had vanished while baby-sitting her cousin's twins.
"The babies are home but Steph is not in my house," their niece kept repeating. "Seriously, she is nowhere to be found."
Gone without a trace -- without her shoes, her clothes for the next day or her purse.
Since that Oct. 31 phone call, her parents have lived on a few hours of sleep each night, supplemented by coffee and adrenaline. Chills of excitement and then fear ripple through them every time the phone rings or a car drives down the road.
The national missing children groups have come in. The FBI has been contacted. Police and the family suspect foul play.
There's been lots of speculation she was a runaway -- not Steph, Marty Condon said. Her family life and school is the number one thing.
The couple's one-story red home has become what Marty Condon, 39, calls the command center. Any moment now, he expects his blond hair, blue-eyed daughter to walk through the front door with her usual teasing greeting: "Hi, butt-head."
Military family
Steph's 10-year-old brother, Martin, fidgets with a yellow ribbon pinned on his shirt. The ribbons are a symbol of hope, sometimes worn by relatives of a prisoner of war.
The Condons are a military family. Marty Condon, a Gulf War veteran, was a 20-year cryptographer for the U.S. Navy during the Cold War.
He retired from the Navy in 1997 and the Condons moved to Riddle, a small town south of Roseburg. They wanted a safe place to raise their kids.
The Condons last saw their daughter at dinner on Oct. 30. Steph, who baby-sat a couple of times a month, gathered her toothbrush, her homework and a change of clothes. Their niece picked her up and planned to bring Steph back in the morning.
Police have told them there were no obvious signs of entry into the home, yet the Condons and the police are convinced Steph didn't leave by herself.
Search for Stephanie
"Endangered Missing" is how the new color posters from The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children list Stephanie Condon, "birth 10/8/84, hair blonde, eyes blue, height 5 feet 2 inches and weight 120 pounds."
She was last seen wearing pajama bottoms and a white T-shirt. She has a very small scar above her left eye. "FOUL PLAY SUSPECTED," the poster reads.
But there are many things the poster does not say: That the pajama bottoms are Winnie the Pooh; that the Riddle High School freshman has a 3.7 grade point average, participates in volleyball and track and wants to become a drafting engineer when she grows up.
Christine Condon, 34, tries to explain what she is going through as she sits in a small corner of Steph's twin-sized bed, clasping her hands. At times she puts her head in her lap as Marty Condon talks about their daughter.
"It goes up and down," he said. "You hear positive rumors and negative ones. We've organized a lot of search teams ourselves."
They think she's alive, although Marty Condon is encouraging people to walk their own property in the area and call law enforcement -- without touching a thing -- if anything unusual is seen.
"We're just hoping anybody knows anything," Christine Condon said. "Even if they think its important or not."
From The Oregonian of Tuesday, Nov. 24, 1998 -- TV show brings no tips in girl's diappearance: A segment on "America's Most Wanted" about a 14-year-old Riddle girl who vanished Oct. 30 fails to elicit new information
By Debra Gwartney, Correspondent, The Oregonian
A segment Saturday on television's "America's Most Wanted" on the disappearance of 14-year-old Stephanie Condon of Riddle has failed to bring in new information on the case, Douglas County authorities said.
Condon, who was baby-sitting her cousin's 2-year-old twin daughters in Tri City the night of Oct. 30, was not in the home when the mother of the infants returned at 1:30 a.m.
She was thought to be wearing Winnie-the-Pooh pajama bottoms and a white T-shirt, according to detectives, and to have been without shoes.
Though search dogs and Coast Guard helicopters have been used to look for the girl, no physical evidence that would explain her disappearance has thus far been disclosed by investigators.
Sheriff's office spokeswoman LuAnn Urban said the department had hoped that the nationally aired television program would prompt new leads.
"That doesn't mean we're going to stop the investigation," she said. "We just won't have the extra units standing by to follow up on tips."
Last week, the sheriff's office sent out a request to residents within a 20-mile radius of the mobile home where Condon was last seen, asking property owners to search all outbuildings, sheds, vehicles, wells and pumphouses for signs of the girl. Although detectives received a number of calls confirming that searches had been done, Urban said that "not one tip came from the search of properties."
On Monday, the sheriff's office took off the extra phone lines and personnel set up to respond to possible information.
Major Harry Mullins said the department does not have the resources to carry on the increased attention to the case.
Urban said detectives on the case will continue to investigate, as would be their normal course of action.
"We just wanted to push for a few days and see what would come of it," she said.
Condon's mother, Christine Condon, said she and her family are grateful for the national television story about the case.
"We thought it was too short, but it was a nice piece," she said. "Now we'll just wait."
Christine Condon said she also was gratified by the community search. She said she and her husband, Marty, heard from several residents who had made an extensive effort to look over their properties. She said that a local lumber company closed down for several hours last week so employees could search the premises.
"The support has been wonderful," she said. "It's getting harder and harder as this goes along."
Christine Condon said she has been seeing more yellow ribbons hanging up all over town as a symbol of hope for Condon's return. Last week, the family joined more than 100 citizens at a community vigil held for the girl at the Open Bible Center.
"That was hard," Christine Condon said. "I kept thinking she was going to just walk in there."
Christine Condon said that although no calls have come in from "America's Most Wanted," the family is hoping that a segment scheduled to air on Hard Copy tonight will bring in information.
Christine Condon also is hoping that the reward fund, which is more than $5,000, also will motivate someone to turn in information.
Douglas County authorities said that four $1,000 donations, from South Umpqua Bank, Horizon Honda Mazda, Parkway Ford and Mercy Medical Center, have been added to the $1,000 originally offered by the Seven Feathers Resort and Casino. An additional reward is being offered by Christine Condon's place of work, OfficeMax in Roseburg.
Stephanie Condon is 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 120 pounds. She has blond hair and blue eyes, and a small scar above her left eye.
From The Oregonian of Wednesday, Dec. 9, 1998 -- Prime suspect is named in disappearance of girl
By Debra Gwartney, Correspondent, The Oregonian
During a court appearance Tuesday on unrelated robbery and burglary charges, Dale Wayne Hill of Myrtle Creek was named as the prime suspect in the disappearance of 14-year-old Stephanie Condon of Riddle.
At the arraignment, Bill Marshall, Douglas County assistant district attorney, persuaded Judge Steven Yeager to maintain bail at $1 million to hold Hill in custody.
"We are concerned about the risk to the community he poses," Marshall said.
David Terry, Hill's attorney at the hearing, said Hill has "time and time again steadfastly denied his involvement" in the disappearance of the girl. But Marshall and Douglas County detectives said they feel strongly that Hill played a role.
"The evidence we were gathering indicated this was the person we needed to be looking at," said Detective Joe Perkins after the hearing. He declined to describe that evidence.
Perkins said Hill had been a visitor at least once to the Tri City mobile home where Cheryl Ann Richey lived. Stephanie was baby-sitting Richey's 2-year-old twin daughters in the mobile home the night of Oct. 30. When Richey arrived home at 1:30 a.m. the next day, Stephanie was gone. Sheriff's deputies think the girl left in pajama bottoms and a white T-shirt.
Hill, 28, allegedly broke into his neighbor's home Nov. 24 by climbing through a window. When the resident returned home and found the man he later identified as Hill, a fight broke out, according to authorities. Hill returned to his own home, where he was later arrested and then released.
During the investigation into the robbery, Myrtle Creek police found a woman's undergarments in Hill's home, according to Douglas County detectives.
Perkins said that discovery and other undisclosed evidence led the county's major crimes team to begin investigating Hill in the Condon case.
After detectives "developed information concerning why the robbery took place," Perkins said, Hill was taken into custody Monday on the robbery and burglary charges. No other suspects are being questioned, he said.
Perkins said two searches of Hill's house failed to produce any sign of Stephanie. He added that investigators are seeking a plaid comforter, which may have been left in a remote area near Myrtle Creek and Tri City, and are encouraging anyone who may have spotted such bedding to immediately contact the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.
Hill made at least one suicide attempt on or near Thanksgiving Day, according to Marshall. In addition, Hill tried to contact Perkins, who he knew was leading the Condon investigation, during the early morning hours of Nov. 27. Perkins declined to describe the nature of the message Hill left.
About that time, Hill called his two children, who live with their mother in Florida, "to say goodbye to the kids," Marshall said during the arraignment.
Marshall told the judge that Hill no longer works for Roseburg Forest Products and that he had traded vehicles with another person to elude detectives.
Hill is scheduled to appear in court on the burglary and robbery case Tuesday in front of Douglas County Circuit Judge Joan Seitz.
From The Oregonian of Sunday, Dec. 20, 1998 -- Wish list lingers on missing sister: Martin Condon says the best Christmas present would be the presence of 14-year-old Stephanie Condon
By Debra Gwartney, Correspondent, The Oregonian
Martin Condon, an exuberant 10-year-old boy with red-flushed cheeks and tousled blond hair, is caught up in the excitement of Christmas.
Kneeling next to the donated Christmas tree in his family's home, the boy happily rummages through the small pile of packages tucked near the trunk. Reaching into the bristly branches, he pulls out one decoration he made a few days before and holds it up proudly. It's a pair of blue candy canes, taped together to form the shape of a heart.
"It's for Steph," he says, referring to his 14-year-old sister, Stephanie Condon, who has been missing for seven weeks. "I know she'll like it."
Though other children his age are hoping for new bicycles and computer games to appear under the tree, Martin, a fifth-grader, said he has only one Christmas wish: "I want my sister to come home."
Marty and Christine Condon, Martin's parents, have the same wish: finding their daughter who disappeared sometime the night of Oct. 30 while she was baby-sitting for 2-year-old twins in nearby Tri City.
Belongings left behind
Authorities believe Stephanie left the Henry Street mobile home in a pair of Winnie-the-Pooh pajama bottoms and a white T-shirt. Her clothing, shoes and schoolwork were left in the house. The close to $700 she has in a savings account hasn't been touched.
The Douglas County sheriff's office has mounted an intensive investigation, spent last weekend combing the nearby woods searching for clues and have named a prime suspect in the case. But no arrests have been made, and no sign has been found of the girl well-loved by her little brother.
"She let me camp out on the floor in her room," Martin said. "Before she left, she was showing me how to make friendship bracelets. She was always nice to me."
Even in the face of few leads and dwindling hope, the family clearly refuses to give up.
"We will find her," Christine Condon said with a firm mother's tone. "And then whoever did this will be sorry."
In the meantime, the family is buying Christmas presents for Stephanie and including her name on the tags of presents for other family members. Young Martin is hoping she'll be home in time to open her gifts.
"I know we're going to see her again soon," he said.
Doors locked
Stephanie was with the twins at the home of her cousin, Cheryl Richey, 22, the last time she was seen. She was inside the home with the doors locked, Marty Condon said.
"She was where she was supposed to be," he said. "A stranger went into the place where she was. He went right past the boundaries."
Detectives have narrowed the search for that stranger to one prime suspect: Dale Wayne Hill, 28, a longtime Myrtle Creek resident who is in the Douglas County Jail on unrelated robbery and burglary charges. On Tuesday, Circuit Court Judge Joan Seitz set a Feb. 4 trial on those charges, which stem from a break-in to a neighbor's house and stolen women's undergarments. Hill has not been charged in the Condon case.
Hill declined to be interviewed, and his attorney, Daniel Bouck, did not return calls asking for comment.
Richey told officers that she saw Hill at an area tavern about 10 p.m. on the night before Halloween and that he mentioned to Richey that he had dropped by her house and had spoken to Stephanie. Hill, a Navy veteran who is the father of two children who live in Florida with their mother, was contacted by detectives in the early morning hours of Oct. 31, according to Richey, after the girl's disappearance was reported to authorities.
A person of interest
By late November, Hill was identified by detectives as "a person of interest" in Stephanie's disappearance. Last weekend, Douglas County authorities organized an extensive search in parts of the remote woods where Hill's 1991 Ford 4-by-4 pickup had been spotted driving around back roads during that time. Authorities began asking weeks ago for sightings of the pickup, as well as reports about a plaid comforter that may have been left in the woods or along a road.
On Tuesday, Marty Condon said the search was fruitless.
"It's like a needle in a haystack, just too much ground to cover," he said.
The Condons said they weren't sure why authorities are looking for the comforter. Detective Joe Perkins, lead investigator on the case, declined to discuss the comforter or last weekend's search. Though Marty and Christine Condon say they have faith in the Douglas County sheriff's detectives and that they support how the investigation is going, they are concerned that all attention now is fixed on Hill.
"Are all our eggs in one basket?" Marty Condon asked. "If it doesn't pan out, then where are we at?"
Carrying on
In the meantime, the family tries to carry on. Stephanie's brother, Martin, has finished the last few days of school and is on a two-week winter break. Christine Condon has returned to work part-time at a Roseburg office supply store, and Marty Condon recently heard that he's been hired by the U.S. Postal Service and probably will begin work in January.
But just because life continues, it doesn't mean Stephanie is ever off their minds, Christine Condon said.
"I don't know how we keep going," she said. "It's pretty much automatic pilot now."
"After you tell a story 1,000 times, it's not real anymore," Marty Condon said. "This just doesn't feel real at all, but it is. And we have to go on. Maybe it's just human nature to survive."
From The Oregonian of Tuesday, Jan. 19, 1999 -- Man denies role in disappearance
By Debra Gwartney, Correspondent, The Oregonian
For the first time since being identified as the prime suspect in the disappearance of 14-year-old Stephanie Condon of Riddle, Dale Wayne Hill talked to reporters Monday, encouraging investigators to admit they have the wrong man.
"I do not know where she is," said a tearful Hill, 28, who spoke from the Douglas County Jail, where he is being held on unrelated burglary charges. "I hope to God they find her."
Hill said he last saw Condon about 8:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, when he dropped by the Tri City mobile home where she was baby-sitting a cousin's 2-year-old twins. He said she was friendly but cautious when she opened the door and briefly told him that the mother of the twins, 24-year-old Cheryl Richey, had left a short time before to meet friends at a nearby bar.
When Richey arrived back at her house about 1:30 a.m., Condon was gone. Despite 12 weeks of investigation and numerous searches of the outlying area, no sign of the girl has been found. Detectives think she was wearing pajama bottoms, a white T-shirt and no shoes. Hill said the girl was wearing those clothes when she answered the door.
Nearly a month after Condon's disappearance, when detectives were beginning to focus in on Hill as a suspect, he was charged with the robbery and burglary of a neighbor's house. Hill allegedly broke into the Myrtle Creek home to steal a pair of women's underwear and was confronted by the resident, who arrived home during the robbery.
Hill's trial on the robbery and burglary charges begins Feb. 4.
Though he has not been charged in the Condon case, Hill said he spends most of his time in jail thinking about it, "coming up with a million different ideas about what might have happened that night."
Hill said that in the past several weeks, he has returned telephone calls from Stephanie's parents, Christine and Marty Condon, and has spoken to each once.
"I told them both I was sorry. I told them I wanted to do everything I could to help," he said. Both Condons, he said, were friendly and calm during the conversations, asking how he and his parents, who live in Glide, were faring. "I feel like they believe me," he said.
Marty Condon, however, called that sentiment "bogus."
"My wife and I think he's up to his ears in this," he said. "We didn't jump quickly to the conclusion other people did that he was guilty, but now we're convinced he's involved."
Condon said information he's received from the Douglas County sheriff's office, which he declined to elaborate on, convinced him of Hill's guilt. Condon now wants to confront Hill face-to-face. "I want to look right at him and tell him to give us our daughter back," he said.
Detective Joe Perkins, who has headed up the nearly three month investigation and who sat in on Monday's interview with Hill, said the suspect had a practiced demeanor while meeting with reporters.
"He chose his words carefully, he wasn't spontaneous," Perkins said. "I've spent many hours in conversation with him, and today he was not the same man."
Perkins, who declined to comment on what he described as "recent movement in the case," said Hill remains the prime suspect in the girl's disappearance.
Hill said he's finds it troubling that detectives have not expanded their search for another suspect. He said he decided to move back to his boyhood home of Myrtle Creek a few years ago after spending 10 years in the military. He said the accusations against him in Condon's disappearance have ruined his life.
"I've been accused of something I didn't do," he said. "Any chance of living here, as well as any hopes for my career, are over."
That sense of despair weighs heavily on him, Hill said, and led him to purposely overdose on pharmaceutical medication the day before Thanksgiving in an attempt to end his life. Marty Condon, however, said he believes the suicide attempt was an admission of guilt.
On the night of the suicide attempt, Hill said he first called his 7-year-old and 8-year-old sons, who live with their mother in Florida, and his parents to tell them he was sorry he was taking his life. Then, he put in a call to Perkins' cell phone, which went unanswered.
"Honestly, what I wanted to say is that I would pray for him," Hill said. "I wanted to tell him I hope he finds the right person."
From The Oregonian of Friday, Feb. 5, 1999 -- Missing-girl suspect gets term in prison
By Debra Gwartney, Correspondent, The Oregonian
Dale Wayne Hill, the prime suspect in the disappearance of a Riddle teenager, was sentenced Thursday in Douglas County Circuit Court to nearly six years in prison for an unrelated robbery conviction.
Hill changed his plea from not guilty to no contest on a lesser charge of second-degree robbery Wednesday. He received the required sentence of five years, 10 months under Measure 11 guidelines from Circuit Court Judge Joan Seitz in front of a crowded courtroom. She also sentenced him to three years' probation.
Deputy District Attorney Richard L. Wesenberg told the court that Hill climbed in a window of his Myrtle Creek neighbor's home on Nov. 24, wielding a large flashlight, and stole women's undergarments from the bedroom. When the resident of the house, Baird Lee Nelson, came home, Hill attacked the man with the flashlight. After a lengthy fight, Hill fled to his own house, where he was later arrested and charged with robbery and burglary.
At the time of the break-in, Hill already was under suspicion in the disappearance of 14-year-old Stephanie Condon, who was baby-sitting her cousin's twin daughters at the time of her Oct. 30 disappearance. No sign of the girl has been found despite more than three months of investigation, and no suspects have been charged.
In a statement to Seitz, Hill said he was not admitting guilt in the robbery but had changed his plea because he felt he could not receive a fair trial with his well-known designation as the only suspect in the Condon disappearance.
"I had no chance, none," he said.
Christine Condon, Stephanie's mother, said after the hearing that she was astonished at Hill's continuing refusal to admit responsibility for either the robbery or her missing daughter. "He's in serious denial," she said.
Condon, who attended the hearing surrounded by friends, said she and her husband, Marty, "are on the same track" as Douglas County investigators who feel that Hill played a key role in the girl's disappearance.
From The Oregonian of Saturday, Oct. 30, 1999 -- 365 days of frustration in case of missing teen
By Cheri Brooks, Special to The Oregonian
http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonianextra/2009/03/medium_martychristinecondon.JPG
The Oregonian/File photoAt their home in Riddle, where Marty and Christine Condon struggled to keep up their spirits up while a search went on for their 14-year-old daughter.
A year ago today, a 14-year-old baby sitter disappeared in her pajamas from a rural mobile home in the middle of the night, leaving two sleeping 2-year-olds in their cribs.
For 12 months, Douglas County Detective Joe Perkins has been searching for Stephanie Condon, tracking down countless leads but coming up empty. No one has seen her, and there is little physical evidence to pursue.
Even after a year, Perkins still receives tips on the case but says "a great number of them are obviously dead ends." Stephanie sightings have come from as far away as Georgia and Tennessee.
Stephanie's parents understand that the detective is frustrated that he can't tell them what happened to their daughter on the night of Oct. 30, 1998.
"We haven't found the tip yet that leads us to her," said Marty Condon, Stephanie's father. The family sought help from several national television programs to publicize the search, but that yielded no useful clues.
Every day, Marty and his wife, Christine, face the dimming prospect of seeing their daughter alive.
"We would love to find her alive," Condon said. "But the hope that we had the first few months is, honestly, not there anymore."
Stephanie's parents say it's unlikely that the responsible 14-year-old would have run away or failed to contact her parents if she was able.
As the fall months passed into winter and summer, Perkins thought Stephanie's body would be found in the forests surrounding the rural community. But he admits the county's sheer size makes it difficult.
"Douglas County is 5,000 square miles of basically rural America," he said. "You can't go far on any road here without gaining access to the mountains."
Perkins may not have much physical evidence, but he does have a suspect: Dale Wayne Hill, 28, who is serving nearly six years in prison on an unrelated robbery conviction. Authorities named Hill as a suspect in December but have never charged him with Stephanie's disappearance.
On the night Stephanie disappeared, Hill stopped by the Tri-City mobile home where she was baby-sitting her cousin's 2-year-old twins. Hill was an acquaintance of the cousin, Cheryl Richey.
Hill maintains that Stephanie told him where to find Richey at a nearby bar. Hill later stopped by the bar and told Richey he had just spoken with Stephanie.
Detectives have said they think Hill harmed Stephanie, perhaps in retaliation at Richey, who was at the bar with another man. Hill has stated that Richey was his girlfriend, but Richey denies this. When Richey returned to her home around 1:30 a.m. on Oct. 31, the toddlers were asleep, but Stephanie was gone.
Roseburg attorney David Terry, who represented Hill, says his former client is a suspect in Stephanie's disappearance "because he's one of the last people to have seen her." But he said Hill continues to "maintain vigorously his innocence."
Perkins won't say when formal charges against Hill will be filed.
"At this point, besides running down the leads and eliminating the other possibilities, we're . . . putting together the very best case we can," he said.
Perkins said he's been helped in the search by the FBI, U.S. Coast Guard, Secret Service, the Polly Klaas Foundation, the National Center for Missing Children, the state police and every police department in Douglas County.
Because Hill is in prison and there is no statute of limitations on homicide, investigators have time on their side if she, in fact, has been killed. But for Stephanie's family and friends, the wait can be excruciating. "It seems like there's weeks on end where there's absolutely nothing happening," Marty Condon said.
Riddle High School held a tribute to Stephanie Condon on Oct. 15, releasing hundreds of yellow balloons during halftime of the homecoming game.
Marty Condon said community support has helped the family members keep their sanity during the past year. "If we'd had to do this alone, we would have gone nuts a long time ago," he said. The South Umpqua Bank in Roseburg has a Stephanie Condon Fund that goes toward a reward for information leading to her discovery.
From The Associated Press of Friday, Nov. 2, 2007 -- Mother hopes Web site leads to lost daughter
RIDDLE -- The mother of a Douglas County girl who went missing nine years ago hopes a new Web site will persuade an abductor to reveal the location of the girl's body.
"It's not like they're going in to the cops and confessing; they're just telling me," Christine Condon said of the site, www.findstephanienow.com (http://www.findstephanienow.com/).
Stephanie Condon, 14, of Riddle vanished from a family member's home while baby-sitting the night before Halloween in 1998. Douglas County authorities suspected foul play and have been investigating ever since.
The Web site is one of several efforts this year to keep the case fresh in the public's mind.
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office flooded the county with posters, and a local cold case squad was assigned to help with the investigation.
Also, the FBI and a private source offered a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.


http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonianextra/2009/03/previous_coverage_the_stephani.html

[sarahhod]

'There is an innocent man behind bars'


http://media.kval.com/images/hillthen_now.jpg
Dale Wayne Hill in 1998 (above left) and in 2009 (above right).

Story Published: Mar 26, 2009 at 1:58 PM PDT

By KVAL.com Staff

http://media.kval.com/designimages/fisher_videoicon.gif Video (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:openPopup%28%27%2Fr%3F19%3D950%2632%3D3566%26 7%3D134071%2640%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.kval.com% 252Fnews%252Flocal%252F41933757.html%253Fvideo%253 DYHI%2526t%253Da%2641%3DVideo%2B%2527There%2Bis%2B an%2Binnocent%2Bman%2Bbehind%2Bbars%2527%2618%3D0. 2135445088949901%27,%27video%27,%27scrollbars=yes, width=800,height=630,screenx=15,screeny=15%27%29;)

ROSEBURG, Ore. -- Dale Wayne Hill was 28 and Stephanie Condon was 14 in October 1998 when Condon disappeared while baby-sitting for the twins of her cousin, Cheryl Richey.

http://media.kval.com/images/25175975882646359e3d762162844e90.png

Deputies said a year after Condon disappeared that they believed Hill harmed her in retaliation against Richey, who was at a bar with another man that evening. Hill had been in the bar earlier that evening.
A decade later, Condon's remains were found March 13 by a hiker (http://www.kval.com/news/local/41831687.html) near Glide, Ore.
Police from Oregon traveled to Nevada on Wednesday to talk to Hill, who was taken into custody by Nevada law enforcement on suspicion of failing to register as a felon.
In 1998, Hill granted KPIC News a jailhouse interview in which he addressed the question of Condon's disappearance.
"The people who know what happened are out there," he said, "and there is an innocent man behind bars."
Now the question remains: What if anything did Hill have to do with Condon's disappearance?

http://media.kval.com/images/arrest_nevada_appeal470.jpg
Photograph courtesy The Nevada Appeal (http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20090325/NEWS/903259958/1070&ParentProfile)

Douglas County sheriff's spokesman Dwes Hutson said Wednesday that Hill and Richey were "acquaintances, knew each other," but would not elaborate.
Richey returned home at about 1:30 a.m., finding the twins asleep and Condon gone.
A month after Condon vanished, Hill was arrested and charged with burglary for breaking into a Myrtle Creek home and stealing a pair of women's panties. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to nearly six years in prison.
During the decade of investigation, Douglas County detectives said Hill's .38-caliber handgun was missing, and Hill told them he had sold it but could not remember to whom.
Hill told deputies he saw the girl the night she vanished when he stopped by the house where she was baby-sitting. He apparently is the last person known to have seen her alive.
Condon's family have long harbored the belief that Hill is responsible for their daughter's death, blogging on the topic just last year. (http://www.kval.com/news/41870777.html)

http://www.kval.com/news/local/41933757.html

[sarahhod]

Suspect in Ore. killing guilty on felon count

Associated Press - March 26, 2009 3:55 PM ET


ROSEBURG, Ore. (AP) - A suspect in the death of a Douglas County teenager who vanished in 1998 has been sentenced to 30 days in jail for failing to register as a felon.
The Roseburg News-Review reported that 39-year-old Dale Wayne Hill appeared for an arraignment hearing in Nevada on Thursday and pleaded guilty, saying he didn't know he was supposed to report.
Hill has not been charged in the death of Stephanie Condon and denies involvement.
Douglas County investigators say he has been under suspicion since she went missing from a baby-sitting job. Her remains were found earlier this month.
The Nevada charge was a result of a burglary conviction in Oregon unrelated to the Condon case. Hill was arrested Wednesday at Dayton, Nev., where he was living.


http://www.ktvz.com/Global/story.asp?S=10077685

[sarahhod]

Condon story has reached many

Chelsea Duncan (cduncan@nrtoday.com)

http://www.nrtoday.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=NR&Date=20090327&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=903279985&Ref=AR&Profile=1063&maxw=300&MaxH=300 (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:NewWindow%28600,700,%27/apps/pbcs.dll/misc?url=/templates/zoom.pbs&Site=NR&Date=20090327&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=903279985&Ref=AR&Profile=1063&Z=%27+encodeURIComponent%28%27Stephanie%20Condon%2 7%29+%27&P=%27+encodeURIComponent%28%27%27%29%29;)

Stephanie Condon

With this week’s announcement that the search for his daughter had ended, Marty Condon said this morning that it’s clear her story has reached far and wide.

Condon said he has received flowers from San Diego, calls from North Carolina, even Florida, since authorities announced Wednesday that remains found in the Glide area March 13 belong to 14-year-old Stephanie Condon, missing since 1998. More than 100 people have posted messages of support on a Web site the family set up in 2007, www.findstephanienow.com (http://www.findstephanienow.com/).

“It’s amazing,” Marty Condon said. “She’s touched a lot of people.”

Condon has also received word that the posters used to help find his daughter are spread throughout the country, and hopes people will now write “Stephanie’s coming home” on them.

A public memorial service for Stephanie has been tentatively set for April 18, he said, though he is still firming up the details on a site.

With the sole suspect in the disappearance of Stephanie Condon now sitting in a Nevada jail cell — eligible for release in mid-April on an unrelated misdemeanor charge — authorities stayed mum today about an investigation that received an extraordinary break when the girl’s remains were discovered after more than a decade.

Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin explained at a press conference this week that he would not be able to discuss certain aspects of the case.

“As the investigation progresses and more information becomes available, we will release it when appropriate,” Hanlin said Wednesday. “… Certain details of any investigation are sensitive and must be protected so as not to jeopardize the integrity of the investigation.”

The case has received national attention since authorities announced this week that the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office used dental records to confirm that the remains found off a forest road off Little River Road in the Glide area belonged to Condon.

The Riddle girl vanished from a home in Tri City where she was baby-sitting her cousin’s children the night of Oct. 30, 1998.

Former Myrtle Creek resident Dale Wayne Hill, 39, has been listed as either a “person of interest” or a suspect by police ever since. Hill knew Condon’s cousin, and is reported to have stopped by the Tri City home to see the woman the night Condon disappeared.

Hill has denied any involvement in Condon’s alleged abduction and murder.

On Wednesday, Hanlin said Hill is the only suspect the investigation has yet to rule out. No charges had been filed against Hill in the Condon case as of this morning.

The former lead investigator in the Condon case told The News-Review in 1998 that there were inconsistencies in the version of events Hill provided following Stephanie Condon’s disappearance.

Hill acknowledges visiting the home where the girl was baby-sitting that night, but said he returned to a bar where he had been drinking and then passed out in his pickup.

He returned to his home at 4 a.m. on Halloween. Deputies were waiting for him.

Sheriff’s Detective Joe Perkins said in 1998 that “substantial inconsistencies in what he’s telling us, based on the witnesses we’ve talked to and the facts we do know from earlier statements” have kept Hill as a suspect in the girl’s disappearance.

“We’re still looking at other possibilities, but Mr. Hill still remains the focus of the investigation,” Perkins said at the time.

Hill is in custody in Nevada for an unrelated crime. He was arrested for failing to register as a felon Wednesday in Dayton, Nev., as authorities from Oregon sought to question him about Condon. The charge stems from an earlier robbery conviction in Oregon.

After waiving his right to an attorney, Hill pleaded guilty Thursday to the charge and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. With good time and work time, he could be released after serving 20 days.

Meanwhile, the Condon family Web site continues to receive message after message of support from people honoring Condon and calling for justice.

“… know that this county stands with you in your grief and in the pursuit of justice for Stephanie,” someone wrote. “May you find some peace and comfort in this most difficult time.”

Another visitor to the site wrote, “Stephanie Elizabeth Condon will never be forgotten and will always be, Douglas County’s very special Angel.”

At the press conference Wednesday, Condon’s father, Marty, expressed his gratitude for the support his family has received over the years.

“You guys have been there for us,” he said. “This is certainly not what anyone hoped for after 10 years, but it’s an outcome we’ve tried to prepare for. My family is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances. It will take time.”

http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20090327/NEWS/903279985/1063/NEWS&ParentProfile=1055&title=Condon%20story%20has%20reached%20many

[grammybears]

I sure hope there will be justice for Stephanie. My prayers go out to this family and all they have been put through.

[sarahhod]

Condon memorial service set for April 18

Chelsea Duncan (cduncan@nrtoday.com)

http://www.nrtoday.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=NR&Date=20090402&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=904029973&Ref=AR&maxw=300&MaxH=300 (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:NewWindow%28600,700,%27/apps/pbcs.dll/misc?url=/templates/zoom.pbs&Site=NR&Date=20090402&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=904029973&Ref=AR&Z=%27+encodeURIComponent%28%27Stephanie%20Condon%2 7%29+%27&P=%27+encodeURIComponent%28%27%27%29%29;)

Stephanie Condon

A public memorial service has been scheduled in honor of Stephanie Condon, whose 1998 disappearance and recently confirmed death have scarred a community.

Her father, Marty Condon, said the April 18 service at the Douglas County Fairgrounds will give the public the chance to mourn the loss of his 14-year-old daughter.

“The public’s been there for us for a long time,” the Riddle resident said. “… We’re hoping we have a pretty good turnout to celebrate Steph’s life.”

The service is set for 1 p.m. in Douglas Hall at the fairgrounds.

Marty Condon said his family has been going through boxes of his daughter’s belongings, looking for trinkets to display at the service.

The girls’ remains, discovered by a Glide-area resident off a logging road off Little River Road March 13, are now evidence in a decade-old homicide case.

Condon said the family will have a private funeral once the remains are returned.

“We have no idea how long that’s going to be,” he said, “but we’re content that she’s been found.”

Investigators, meanwhile, continue to work to solve the alleged abduction and murder of the girl, who vanished in October 1998 while baby-sitting her cousin’s children at a home in Tri City.

District Attorney Rick Wesenberg said investigators have suspected all along that Condon met with foul play that night. The discovery of her remains is the break for which investigators have been waiting, authorities are saying.

“Finding Stephanie was profoundly important because it gives certainty to what had been uncertain,” Wesenberg said.

He said those working the case are doing everything they can to ensure the person responsible for Condon’s death is brought to justice.

Authorities said last week that former Myrtle Creek resident Dale Wayne Hill remains the only suspect in the case. He has been under suspicion since shortly after Condon’s disappearance, after he told investigators he’d stopped by the house where Condon was baby-sitting that night. He has denied any involvement.

Hill, now 39, was arrested at his home in Dayton, Nev., last week on an unrelated charge. Authorities from Oregon had been in the area to speak with the man about the Condon case, Nevada officials confirmed.

Condon’s remains were found in the woods not far from the Glide-area home of Hills parents, which he once listed as his address in court records.

Hill remains jailed after pleading guilty to failing to register as a felon in Nevada, a charge that stemmed from a previous robbery conviction in Oregon. He is expected to be released April 14, a jail official said this morning.

No charges have been filed against him in the Condon case.

Although the investigation continues, Wesenberg said it’s hoped that the discovery of Condon’s remains has provided some closure for her family and the community.

Marty Condon said community members have been calling him with support and ideas for a memorial fund in his daughter’s name. People also have been calling to offer help for the memorial service.

“There’s been lots of people offering services,” he said. “It’s amazing.”

A fellow Riddle resident has also planned a benefit concert for the Condon family, scheduled for May 1 and 2 at the Riddle VWF Hall.

Larry Aguayo of Chikonky Promotions said he organized the concert in part to show that something positive can come out of a tragedy.

“We can all get together as a group to make things happen,” he said.


Stephanie remembered…
WHAT: Stephanie Condon public memorial service
WHERE: Douglas Hall, Douglas County Fairgrounds, Roseburg.
WHEN: 1 p.m. April 18
WHAT: Stephanie Condon benefit concert
WHERE: Riddle VFW Hall, 127 Main St., Riddle.
WHEN: 6 p.m., May 1, featuring blues, country, psychedelic and classic rock music; noon, May 2, featuring grunge, metal and alternative music.
DONATION: $6, proceeds will go to the Condon family
WHO: Presented by Chikonky Promotions; featuring Myrtle Creek performers Dave Treske and Another Freak Accident, Roseburg band SYKE and many more.


http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20090402/NEWS/904029973/1063/NEWS&ParentProfile=1055&title=Condon%20memorial%20service%20set%20for%20Ap ril%2018

[Amusedtdth]

God Bless, I'm happy they are getting to bring their daughter home; I only wish it were better circumsances.

[sarahhod]

Suspect in Stephanie Condon disappearance scheduled to go free

by Stuart Tomlinson, The Oregonian Tuesday April 14, 2009, 11:26 AM


http://blog.oregonlive.com/news_impact/2009/04/large_PX00147_9.JPG
Cathleen Allison/Nevada AppealLyon County Sheriff Lt. Rob Hall, right, escorts Dale Wayne Hill into custody Wednesday morning, March 25, 2009, in Dayton, Nevada.


The man identified as the prime suspect in the disappearance and death of 14-year-old Stephanie Condon is scheduled to be released from a Nevada jail Wednesday morning after serving most of a 30-day jail sentence on an unrelated charge.
Kevin Phillips, an employee at the Lyon County Jail in Yerington, Nev., said this morning that so far, there are no holds from other law enforcement agencies that would keep 39-year-old Dale Wayne Hill in jail.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/news_impact/2009/04/small_PX00122_9.JPG (http://blog.oregonlive.com/news_impact/2009/04/PX00122_9.JPG)
Lyon County SheriffDale Wayne Hill, 39

"We've had no requests from anyone to hold him,'' Phillips said. "He will be released Wednesday morning at 6 a.m."
Hill has denied having anything to do with Condon's disappearance and death, but has been identified as the prime suspect in the case.
On March 25, Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin announced that a passer-by discovered Condon's remains March 13 while walking his dog on a logging road near the town of Glide, northeast of Riddle. That brought to an end more than 10 years of searching for Condon, who was last seen in October of 1998.
Later on March 25, Hill was arrested in Dayton, Nev., on an unrelated charge of failing to register as a convicted felon. At his arraignment the next day he said he was unaware that he had to register, but pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
Also today, Sgt. David Marshall, a spokesman for the Douglas County Sheriff's Office said as far as he knew, no charges are immediately pending against Hill in Condon's death. The Douglas County District Attorney's Office referred all questions about the investigation back to the sheriff's office.
"I can't imagine they don't already know he's going to get out, but at this point I have no information about any charges,'' Marshall said.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/news_impact/2009/04/medium_top-banner2.jpg (http://blog.oregonlive.com/news_impact/2009/04/top-banner2.jpg)
findstephanienow.com Stephanie Condon

On Oct. 31, 1998, Condon, a sophomore at Riddle High School, had gone to Tri City, about five miles away, to baby-sit her cousin's 2-year-old twins. Their mother, Cheryl Richey, then 22, went to a tavern, where Hill, an acquaintance, approached her and said he'd been by her house earlier in the evening.
When Richey got home about 1:30 a.m., the front door was locked, the twins were asleep, and Condon's backpack lay nearby. But Condon was gone. Authorities said then that the girl had been wearing a T-shirt and pajama bottoms featuring Winnie-the-Pooh.
For years, Marty and Christine Condon and their son, Marty, searched. They put out fliers and built a Web site (http://www.findstephanienow.com/). Billboards hovering over Interstate 5 near Winchester were donated and plastered with the word "Missing!" and Condon's beaming face in a school photograph.
The case appeared on national television, and investigators came from as far as Britain to help. Reward money exceeded $20,000.
In 2000, Riddle planted a huge stone in its city park that bears a bronze plaque: "Dedicated to all missing children in honor of Stephanie Condon."
A public memorial service for Condon will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Douglas County Fairgrounds in Roseburg.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/prime_suspect_in_stephanie_con.html

[annalyzer]

Suspect in girl's abduction to be released from jail

01:37 PM PDT on Tuesday, April 14, 2009

RIDDLE, Ore. - The sole suspect in the abduction of a Riddle girl back in 1998 has been cleared for release from jail on Wednesday, a month after the girl's remains were found along a remote logging road.

Stephanie Condon was 14 when she vanished from a family member's home in Tri-City while babysitting her cousin's twins on the night before Halloween in 1998.

Deputies told KGW back in March that Dale Wayne Hill, who was 28 at the time Stephanie went missing, was currently their only suspect in the case.

Hill was taken into custody in Reno, Nevada in March for unrelated charges of failing to register as a felon. He pleaded guilty to those charges and was sentenced to spend the next 30 days in the Lyon County Jail, southeast of Reno.

This was expected to give Oregon investigators time to potentially build their case against him. However, on Tuesday, Kevin Phillips, an employee at the Lyon County Jail told KGW that Dale was scheduled for release the following day. He said sometimes, a "hold" is put on inmates about to face new charges, but in this case, Hill seemed to be in the clear to leave.

The Condon case had gone cold until Friday, March 13, when a man exercising his dogs on a remote forest road in the Glide area spotted what appeared to be human skeletal remains and alerted the sheriff’s office. The bones were about 40 miles away from the home where Stephanie was last seen babysitting.

"This is certainly not what any of us was hoping for," said Stephanie Condon's father, Martin. "But after 10 years, it's an outcome we've been trying to prepare for. My family is doing pretty well. My family is doing well under the circumstances."

Investigators spent over a week studying the remains and dental records of missing persons until the medical examiner positively identified the deceased as Stephanie Condon, according to information released by Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin.

Investigators also said they recovered evidence from the site around Stephanie's remains, but they don't yet know exactly how she died.

"The cause and manner of death has not yet been established. Stephanie’s remains continue to be examined in an attempt to make that determination," Sheriff Hanlin said. "The abduction and murder of a child in this community is shocking for us all. There has never been a more important investigation in many of our careers, and never has there been a more important break in an investigation such as the discovery of Stephanie’s remains and related evidence."

http://www.nwcn.com/statenews/oregon/stories/NW_041409ORN-abduction-suspect-LJ.d552c428.html

[annalyzer]

Condon case has gone unsolved since 1998


http://media.kval.com/images/hillthen_now.jpg
Dale Wayne Hill in 1998 (above left) and in 2009 (above right).

Story Published: Apr 14, 2009 at 5:13 PM PDT

ROSEBURG, Ore. -- Dale Wayne Hill was 28 and Stephanie Condon was 14 in October 1998 when Condon disappeared while baby-sitting for the twins of her cousin, Cheryl Richey.

Deputies said a year after Condon disappeared that they believed Hill harmed her in retaliation against Richey, who was at a bar with another man that evening. Hill had been in the bar earlier that evening.

A decade later, Condon's remains were found March 13 by a hiker near Glide, Ore.

Police from Oregon traveled to Nevada to talk to Hill, who was taken into custody by Nevada law enforcement March 25 on suspicion of failing to register as a felon.

Now a case simmering since President Bill Clinton held office will have its day in court:

On Tuesday, a grand jury in Roseburg, Ore., indicted Hill on three counts of aggravated murder on the eve of his release from a Nevada jail.

Douglas County sheriff's spokesman Dwes Hutson said March 25 that Hill and Richey were "acquaintances, knew each other," but would not elaborate.

Richey returned home at about 1:30 a.m., finding the twins asleep and Condon gone.

A month after Condon vanished, Hill was arrested and charged with burglary for breaking into a Myrtle Creek home and stealing a pair of women's panties. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to nearly six years in prison.

During the decade of investigation, Douglas County detectives said Hill's .38-caliber handgun was missing, and Hill told them he had sold it but could not remember to whom.

Hill told deputies he saw the girl the night she vanished when he stopped by the house where she was baby-sitting. He apparently is the last person known to have seen her alive.

Condon's family have long harbored the belief that Hill is responsible for their daughter's death, blogging on the topic just last year.

http://www.kval.com/news/local/41917772.html

[CSAFD]

Hill indicted for Stephanie Condon's death
Apr. 14, 2009

Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin and Douglas County District Attorney Rick Wesenberg announced this evening that a Douglas County Grand Jury has just indicted Dale Wayne Hill, on 3 counts of Aggravated Murder, stemming from the investigation in the death of Stephanie Condon.

Dale Hill is currently serving a 30 day sentence in a Lyon County Nevada Jail issued by a Nevada court for a local Nevada charge. This evening Douglas County Officials have placed a hold on Mr. Hill and will begin working on the extradition process to bring him back to Douglas County.

Stephanie Condon Hill was arrested in Dayton, Nevada in March for failure to register as a felon.

On March 13, a man walking his dog on a remote forest road in Glide, Ore., found a skull. The remains were identified as those of Condon.

Hill is the prime suspect in Condon's dissapearance, who was 14-years-old when she vanished on Oct. 30, 1998, while she was babysitting.

Hill claimed to have stopped by the house where Condon was babysitting but has maintained he had nothing to do with her dissapearance.

Hill did serve six years in prison for unrelated burglaries but was never charged with Condon's disappearance, despite being the prime suspect from the beginning. He was released from prison in 2005.

http://www.koinlocal6.com/content/news/topstories/story/Hill-indicted-for-Stephanie-Condons-death/LLeABhB-u0-VJKE_-9xpBw.cspx

[grammybears]

I am glad that Hill was indicted. It has I am sure been a long road for Stephanie's family. Hopefully they will finally see justice for their daughter.
My prayers go with them.

[CSAFD]

Hill's 1998 photo he looks like Gary Ridgeway "The Green River Killer". Stephanie's family still has a long road ahead of them if it goes to trial. most likely these days he will plead out and save them from that. but who knows.

[sarahhod]

Hill indicted in Condon case

Chelsea Duncan (cduncan@nrtoday.com)
The News-Review


http://www.nrtoday.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=NR&Date=20090415&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=904159961&Ref=AR&maxw=300&MaxH=300 (http://javascript<b></b>:NewWindow(600,700,'/apps/pbcs.dll/misc?url=/templates/zoom.pbs&Site=NR&Date=20090415&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=904159961&Ref=AR&Z='+encodeURIComponent('Hill')+'&P='+encodeURIComponent(''));)
Hill

A Douglas County grand jury indicted Dale Wayne Hill on charges stemming from the alleged kidnapping and murder of Riddle teen Stephanie Condon on Tuesday.

Hill, 39, faces three counts of aggravated murder, one count of murder and one count of second-degree kidnapping in the October 1998 abduction of the 14-year-old girl.

The three charges of aggravated murder account for varying theories prosecutors have about how the crimes were committed. He is essentially accused of committing murder while also committing kidnapping. He is also accused of killing the teen to conceal the commission of a crime, or the identity of the perpetrator of a crime, in this case, kidnapping.

The indictment alleges that the crimes occurred on or between Oct. 30 and Oct. 31, 1998. Condon vanished that night from a home in Tri City where she was baby-sitting for her cousin, Cheryl Richey.

Richey is one of nearly 40 witnesses who testified before the grand jury. Also among the witnesses, were Condon’s parents, Marty and Christine Condon.

Police identified Hill as a suspect in the case early on, but had never formally charged him in connection with Stephanie Condon’s disappearance. Hill has previously denied any involvement.

Investigators received the break they had been waiting for after Condon’s remains were found March 13 near Glide by an area resident. The man reported finding a skull near a forest road off Little River Road, not far from an address Hill once listed as his residence in court records.

Authorities announced March 25 that dental records were used to confirm the remains belonged to Condon. That day, Douglas County officials requested help in the case from the Lyon County, Nev., Sheriff’s Office, according to information released today from Lyon County.

In preparation of making contact with Hill in Nevada, detectives learned he had failed to register as a felon, a crime in that state. Hill was convicted in 1998 on a robbery charge unrelated to the Condon case and spent nearly six years in prison.

Hill was arrested on the Nevada charge and pleaded guilty the next day. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail, but was scheduled for release Wednesday after receiving credit for good time and work time, according to the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office.

A Douglas County Circuit Court judge issued a warrant for Hill’s arrest Tuesday. The man is being held in Lyon County as a fugitive from justice. He will be held without bail pending an extradition hearing.

Authorities are expected to release further details Wednesday.

http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20090415/NEWS/904159961/1063/NEWS&ParentProfile=1055

[Amusedtdth]

For the Condon Family, I hope this is the end and justice is finally brought before the family for their daughter. God Bless and Good Luck. My prayers are with you all.

[annalyzer]

Hundreds in Douglas County mourn Stephanie Condon

A "celebration of life" is held for the girl who vanished a decade ago

Sunday, April 19, 2009
ALLAN BRETTMAN The Oregonian Staff

ROSEBURG -- Stephanie Elizabeth Condon began life as the daughter of Marty and Christine Condon of Riddle. But during the past 10 years, she became the daughter of Douglas County.

"She's always been our angel," her father, Marty Condon, told an audience Saturday afternoon at the Douglas County Fairgrounds. "Now she's yours and the Lord's angel."

Condon's emotional and uplifting speech in front of 800 people was the centerpiece of a "celebration of life" at Douglas Hall.

The service followed a string of recent pivotal events in the decade-old missing-person case, beginning with the discovery of Stephanie Condon's remains March 13 and the indictment less than a week ago of a suspect in her death.

The Condon family wanted the ceremony to help the community have closure.

Few events have coalesced this rural county an hour's drive south of Eugene like the saga of Stephanie Condon. The disappearance resonated with parents who did not know the Condons but had children close to the age of the 14-year-old, golden-haired girl, Joe Laurance, a Douglas County commissioner, told the audience.

Condon vanished the night of Oct. 30, 1998 as she baby-sat her cousin's 2-year-old twins in Tri-City, a community five miles north of Riddle.

Marty Condon spliced humor into his emotional address Saturday.

One story he shared for the first time, something "not even Stephanie's mother knows about."

Stephanie was planning her wedding, Condon said. She had several details worked out. She was 13 at the time.

One scenario called for her parents to renew their vows during Stephanie's ceremony. Condon told his daughter he liked the idea.

But Stephanie, knowing this meant his father would need to ask his wife to remarry him, teasingly said, "But Dad! What if Mommy says no?"

The diverse audience included people who knew the family and those who did not, community leaders, "and a spectrum over a wide socioeconomic level," family friend Joe Perkins said.

Perkins got to know the family 10 years ago, when he was the lead detective on the case. He retired in 2005.

On Saturday, he wore a tiny lapel pin with Stephanie's photo, rimmed in yellow with a time-worn yellow ribbon. Christine Condon gave it to him in the first week of the case.

She also gave him a 5-by-7 photo of her daughter. Perkins kept the photo on his bedroom dresser.

"When I'd put on my tie in the morning it'd be a reminder of what I need to do today," he said.

He doesn't feel closure yet, saying that a conviction might help accomplish that.

Dale Wayne Hill, 39, was indicted Tuesday on three counts of aggravated murder. He refused extradition to Oregon at a hearing Friday in Nevada.

Marty Condon mentioned the circumstances of his daughter's disappearance, that she was babysitting 2-year-old girls.

"I truly believe she would have never left the babies voluntarily unless she was threatened," he said, an opinion investigators said they also believe. "She left to protect those babies."

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1240113303297830.xml&coll=7&thispage=2