Murder of Thelma Taylor

Thelma Anne Taylor (December 12, 1933 – August 6, 1949) was an American 15-year-old girl who was murdered in Portland, Oregon in 1949, after having disappeared on August 5.[2] Her body was discovered the following week, on August 11. Taylor's murder became a cause célèbre, and the perpetrator, Morris Leland, was executed in 1953. The site of the murder in St. Johns occurred underneath the St. Johns Bridge, on land that is now in Cathedral Park.[3]

Thelma Taylor
Born
Thelma Anne Taylor

(1933-12-12)December 12, 1933[1]
Portland, Oregon, U.S.
DisappearedAugust 5, 1949
DiedAugust 6, 1949(1949-08-06) (aged 15)
Portland, Oregon, U.S.
Cause of deathBlunt force trauma and stabbing
Body discoveredAugust 11, 1949, in St. Johns, Portland, Oregon
Resting placeColumbia Cemetery, Portland, Oregon, U.S.
45.58454°N 122.67721°W / 45.58454; -122.67721
Known forHomicide victim

Disappearance and murder

On August 5, 1949, Thelma Taylor, a 15-year-old sophomore at Roosevelt High School, was waiting for a bus in the St. Johns neighborhood in northern Portland, Oregon, intending to travel to the nearby town of Hillsboro to get a summer job picking beans.[4][5]

While Taylor was waiting for the bus, she was accosted by Morris Leland, a 22-year-old ex-convict, who asked her to accompany him to a spot by the Willamette River under the St. Johns Bridge, in the nearby Cathedral Park neighborhood.[6] Upon arriving at the secluded area, Leland held Taylor captive and attempted to rape her, but desisted upon finding that she was a virgin.[6] The two slept that night beneath the St. Johns Bridge, which at the time was undeveloped and full of thick underbrush.

On the morning of August 6, Taylor began screaming for help after hearing workers switching train cars at a nearby train yard.[4] Leland then killed Taylor when he struck her on the head with a steel bar[7] multiple times and stabbed her with a knife.[6] He then threw the steel bar and the knife into the river, wiped his fingerprints off of Taylor's lunch pail, and gathered up his cigarette butts. Leland buried Taylor's body in a shallow grave under a pile of driftwood.[6][8]

Conviction and execution

On August 11, 1949, Leland was arrested for automobile theft by the Portland police, and subsequently confessed to kidnapping and murdering Taylor, though he claimed she had gone with him "willingly."[9] On August 19, he was indicted on charges of first-degree murder.[10] At his trial, Leland pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His trial began on October 4, 1949, and on November 11,[11] he was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.[6] Leland was initially sentenced to die January 20, 1950,[12] but this date was moved after he filed for a new trial; however, his plea for a new trial was denied on December 18, 1949.[12]

On April 20, 1951, Morris was sentenced to be executed.[13] He was executed by the gas chamber on January 9, 1953, at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, Oregon.[14]

Legacy

Taylor was buried in Columbia Cemetery in the Parkrose neighborhood of Portland. The site of Taylor's murder under the St. Johns Bridge has since been developed into a public park, also called Cathedral Park, opening on May 3, 1980. The murder on the land that became Cathedral Park led to local folklore in the area that the park is supposedly haunted by Taylor.[15]

See also

References
  1. "Slain Girl's Rites Monday". The Oregonian. August 14, 1949. Last rites for Thelma Anne Taylor, a fifteen year old Roosevelt High School sophomore whose murder August 6, was confessed by Morris Leland, 22, transient, will be at 1:30 PM. Monday at Mikesworth's Peninsula Funeral Home 3018 N. Lombard Street. Rev. William C. Doughty, pastor of East St. Johns Mission Covenant, of which the girl was a member, will officiate. Burial will be in Columbia Cemetery. Miss Taylor, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence A. Taylor, 9903 N. Oregonian Street, was born in Portland December 12, 1933, She attended George School for six years, graduated from James John Grade School in 1947 and had planned to enter her sophomore year at Roosevelt High School in September. Besides her parents, she is survived by one sister, Paulette.
  2. Holmes, Eric (October 30, 2008). "Spooky Portland: A grisly murder, a haunted castle, bodies in the Keller!". Katu.com. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
  3. "A grave history and telling walks in Portland" (PDF). St. Johns Review. October 14, 2011.
  4. Becker, Tim (May 9, 2013). "Thelma Taylor: Phantom in Cathedral Park?". Koin News. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
  5. McMurphy, Vivian (August 23, 1949). "Points West". The Lebanon Express. Lebanon, Oregon. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "STATE vs. LELAND (190 Or. 598 (1951))". Leagle. October 4, 1950. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
  7. "Seized as Car Thief, Reveals He Murdered Teen-age Girl". New York Daily News. New York City, New York. August 12, 1949. p. 264 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Former Convict Leads Police To Body of Murdered Girl". Reading Eagle. Reading, Pennsylvania. August 11, 1949. p. 21 – via Google News.
  9. "Leland Shows No Agitation". The Capital Journal. Salem, Oregon. August 12, 1949. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Murder Indictment". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. August 19, 1949. p. 36 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Young Man to Die for Slaying Girl". The San Bernardino County Sun. San Bernardino, California. November 11, 1949. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Rape-Murderer Loses Plea For New Trial". Long Beach Independent. Long Beach, California. p. 12-A – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "Court Grants Execution Stay". The Bend Bulletin. Bend, Oregon. April 6, 1951. p. 5 – via Google News.
  14. "Oregon's Next Executions Set". Eugene Register-Guard. Eugene, Oregon. January 5, 1953. p. 7A. Retrieved September 19, 2013 – via Google News.
  15. Dickey 2017, pp. 215–225.

Sources
  • Dickey, Colin (2017). Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places. New York: Penguin. ISBN 978-1-101-98020-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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