Posted on 06/25/2015 2:00:34 PM PDT by markomalley
Detectives on Wednesday evening were still in the process of removing evidence, including a number of cellphones, as they worked to determine how two bodies ended up in a chest-style freezer at a Nicholas Drive home.
From the doorway where police entered Tuesday to bring a man outside — identified as 38-year-old Jeremy Daniel Ringquist — a white freezer was apparent as police officers from both Springfield and Eugene went in and out of the garage through a broken doorframe.
Detectives also performed a three dimensional scan of the scene, preserving images for future use.
As of 5 p.m., the freezer had not been removed from the home.
The bodies, which authorities said were intact, were removed from the scene earlier Wednesday after a search warrant was served at midnight, Springfield police Sgt. Rich Charboneau said.
Police declined to identify the bodies. Neighbors and family members identified the couple as Randy and Karen Ringquist. Lane County tax records also show Randy and Karen Ringquist as the homeowners at that address.
Meanwhile, police confirmed that three people lived in the home near Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend — Jeremy Ringquist and his parents, both believed to be in their 60s.
Jeremy Ringquist was taken by ambulance to a hospital on Tuesday afternoon. Charboneau said Jeremy Ringquist on Wednesday was in the intensive care unit at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center in Springfield for additional injuries or medical issues, aside from the minor injury incurred Tuesday that’s believed to be self-inflicted and possibly caused by a knife. Police declined to say whether the additional injuries were physical or drug-related.
Charboneau said Jeremy Ringquist’s condition does not appear to be life-threatening. No arrests have been made in the case, and detectives are waiting for Ringquist’s condition to improve prior to having a thorough interview with him, Charboneau said.
Those who know the family said they believe the bodies are those of Jeremy Ringquist’s parents.
Police declined to say whether that is the case. However, Charboneau did say, “We haven’t had a parent killed by a child (locally) for several years.
“Anytime you have a death, it’s terrible,” Charboneau added. “We don’t have that many homicides here in this area, let alone Springfield, and so when you have two people whose bodies appear (that way), it’s sad.”
Neighbors described Karen Ringquist as sweet but Randy Ringquist as an alcoholic who was verbally abusive toward both his wife and son. Jeremy Ringquist, neighbors said, had moved into the home at the beginning of the year following a divorce and a disability that prevented him from working.
Neighbor Byung Jun, the pastor of Korean Central Presbyterian Church nearby, said he has known the family for approximately eight years. He said Karen Ringquist once told him that her son was a brilliant technician who had a very good job in Chicago. But he lost his job and, when the divorce followed, he was forced to move back home with his parents, Jun said. He had applied for a few jobs locally, Jun said, but was unsuccessful in finding one.
“He lost his family, his wife, his children, and he mentally...collapsed, and physically he wasn’t so good so he couldn’t find a job anymore,” Jun said.
Jun said he never heard or saw any abuse among family members.
On Tuesday, Charboneau said he did not believe police had received any reports or calls to the house prior to 10 a.m. Monday, when an out-of-town relative asked police to check on the woman after being unable to contact her. At noon Wednesday, however, police confirmed that an additional call for a welfare check had been received on June 15.
The woman’s cousin, Mark Cestaric of California, said in a telephone interview Wednesday that he is the relative who requested that welfare check. He said he and Karen Ringquist talked every week, either on the phone or by text. He said he knew that her husband was physically and mentally abusive. When her son moved in, Karen Ringquist told Cestaric that the son, too, was being abusive to her, Cestaric said.
Cestaric said he last spoke with his cousin on May 22. He said she told him at that time that her son had just kicked her.
“Karen and her husband, they didn’t get along, he was abusive to her. And then their son moved in and he was also abusive. He’s a 300-pound kid,” Cestaric said. “Her life was miserable and I tried to tell her to get out. I said, ‘You’ve got to get out of there,’ but she said she had no money and no place to go. There’s no relatives close. I’m probably her closest relative...
“I never contacted police. She didn’t want me to do anything. She said she was going to bear with it. When you’re not there to see it, it’s hard to tell what’s really going on.”
On June 11 or 12, Cestaric said, he called Springfield police and asked them to check on the woman since he hadn’t heard from her. Police told him a note on the door said the family was on vacation and would be back June 16.
Cestaric said he called police again on June 17 and asked them to check on the family, since it was unusual that Karen Ringquist had not been in touch with any family members, including another cousin in Florida. Police called Cestaric back again and said a different note was on the door — a typed one — that said a family emergency had occurred and their son Jeremy would be watching the property.
“Especially in hindsight, that does seem very strange,” Charboneau said of the note on the door. “But everybody does things differently and we would have had no idea back on June 15 if that’s just the way they did things. But looking back on it, it does (seem strange).”
Cestaric said the updated note was another red flag to him, because his cousin “never would have typed a letter. Everything from her was always handwritten.”
“I told them ‘something is wrong. You guys need to check it out,’ but they said they walked around the (outside of the) house and they saw the note so they said there was nothing they could do,” Cestaric said.
Cestaric said he called again Monday, and also called his brother-in-law, a former police officer at an out-of-the-area agency, who made contact with Springfield police.
Cestaric said Wednesday that Springfield police had still not contacted him about what happened at the home. He said he learned about the discovery of the bodies from his brother-in-law.
Charboneau said police attempted to contact the woman at the home Tuesday but a man inside the residence called 911 while police were outside and told a dispatcher to send a negotiator to the residence.
A negotiator was sent to the home, along with other officers, but when they received no response, police forced their way inside and found the man with an injury. Police did not say what kind of injury he had.
Jun said the woman, whom he also identified as Karen Ringquist, attended some of his church services and would sometimes bring flowers or “beautiful poems” that she had written to him and his family.
Karen Ringquist had a good heart and was a talented writer, Jun said.
Jun and other neighbors said Randy Ringquist had retired a couple of years ago from his job at an out-of-town hospital. Cestaric said he believes Randy Ringquist was laid off from his job as a hospital technician.
Cestaric said he believes Jeremy Ringquist lost his job as an engineer in Chicago because he had a back problem.
Jun said he had not seen Karen Ringquist for a couple of weeks. Last week, Jun was outside watering his garden when Jeremy Ringquist came over to say hello, he said.
“I hadn’t seen her so I thought maybe she went somewhere out of town,” Jun said. “Her son told me, ‘Oh my mom, she’s visiting my aunt. But she’ll be back soon.’ And he said his mom asked him to say ‘hello’ to me. So I said, ‘Oh, thank you.’”
Jeremy Ringquist, he said, then went back inside the home.
Police are still processing the crime scene and the investigation is ongoing, Charboneau said Wednesday.
Animal Control officials removed a miniature dachshund, Sammy, from the residence overnight. One cat is still inside.
A small memorial has begun to grow on the sidewalk outside the home, with three small floral bouquets and a note from one neighbor that says the dog, “your baby...will be well taken care of.”
Charboneau said police encourage all residents to contact police if they know of domestic violence occurring in their neighborhoods. At least three neighbors have said they knew of the verbal abuse inside the Nicholas Drive home, but had not contacted authorities.
It sounds like the mother/wife was well-liked by others outside of her home. Sad story.
One of Lewis and Clark’s guides in the Corps of Discovery was named Charboneau. Might be interesting to check this man’s family tree. He may have a famous ancestor.
Sad story... RIP...
Wasn’t Charbonneau Sacajawea’s husband?
Yes he was.
It isn’t a big hairy deal, but Charboneau not being quite as common a name as Smith or Miller, I thought there could possibly be a genealogical connection from that police official in Oregon back to L&C’s guide.
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