Friend finds missing woman’s truck after she vanished with dogs. ‘Struck me as odd’
UPDATE: Susan “Phoenix” Lane-Fournier was found dead Friday, Nov. 29 near Brightwood, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said. Two dogs ,believed to be Lane-Fournier’s, were also found dead the next day. Her husband has been arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder.
The original story is below.
Search teams are scouring a forest in Oregon for a missing 61-year-old woman and her two dogs, deputies said.
But her friends say things aren’t adding up.
Susan “Phoenix” Lane-Fournier, of Brightwood, never showed up to work Friday, Nov. 22, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
Lane-Fournier worked at the Hoodland Bazaar in Welches, her friend Cari Gesch told McClatchy News by phone Nov. 25. She also led sound bath meditations.
Gesch happened to come across her friend’s white 1992 Ford F-250 the next day parked along the Salmon River Road near the Old Salmon River Trail, she said. The area is just south of Welches.
The “popular hiking trail” is 2.7-miles out-and-back, and it never strays too far from the road, according to AllTrails and Gesch.
At first, Gesch said she didn’t know her friend was missing, but something didn’t feel right about the truck.
“It just was an odd place for somebody to be parked,” she said.
She told a local pizza shop owner and saw a Facebook post about Lane-Fournier’s disappearance.
The discovery of her truck drew search teams to Mount Hood National Forest, where Lane-Fournier may have went hiking with her two Belgian Malinois-mix dogs, deputies said.
Police dogs and dozens of searchers from different agencies have spread out to find her and her pets, deputies said.
But Gesch said her friend likely wouldn’t hike in the area with her dogs because the animals are “not very people friendly.”
“They were her protectors. Those were guard dogs. I mean, if anybody would get near her, they would lose their minds,” Gesch said.
Now, community members and her family hope she is found.
“We just want to find Phoenix,” Gesch said. “That’s all we want to do, regardless of the outcome, we just want to find Phoenix.”
Gesch said her friend is “very tough,” eccentric, outgoing, hippie and friendly.
“Everyone that meets her loves her,” she said.
Lane-Fournier is 5 feet, 2 inches tall, weighs 150 pounds and has reddish-brown hair.
Deputies said she is familiar with the area but it’s not known if she was prepared to stay in cold and rainy overnight conditions.
Anyone who has seen Lane-Fournier is asked to call the sheriff’s office non-emergency dispatch line at 503-655-8211.
Tips can also be made by calling 503-723-4949 or by submitting an online tip.
The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for more information on Monday, Nov. 25.
Welches is about a 45-mile drive southeast from Portland.
This story was originally published November 25, 2024 at 8:39 AM with the headline "Friend finds missing woman’s truck after she vanished with dogs. ‘Struck me as odd’."
