All five people discovered dead at a rural Oregon property on Saturday, August 22, 2026, died of gunfire, authorities said on Tuesday, August 25, adding that the man investigators identified as their killer had told his mother in a phone call that the slayings were premeditated.
At a news conference in Hillsboro, Ore., Detective Mark Povolny of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office walked through a detailed timeline of the killings, describing a gunman who shot five people and five household pets, then tried to burn much of the evidence — and the property itself — to the ground.
Authorities identified the dead as Mary Elizabeth Kimsey, 85, of Portland; Rowan Karla Kimsey, 60, of Forest Grove; Stella Jade Kimsey, 26, also of Forest Grove; Linsey Mae Haraldsen, 26, of Portland; and Alvin Raymond Chu, 27, of Portland.
Family ties and friendship linked them. The land just outside Forest Grove, roughly 25 miles west of Portland, belonged to Rowan Kimsey, who lived in one of the outbuildings. Her daughter, Stella Kimsey, occupied the main home, which she shared with Benjamin Charles Parker, 36, her boyfriend and the man investigators named as the suspect. Rowan’s mother and Stella’s grandmother was Mary Kimsey. Chu was the partner of Haraldsen, who was Stella Kimsey’s best friend.
A Fire Reported Before Dawn
The first call came just after 5 a.m. on Saturday, when a neighbor dialed 911 to report a fire. Forest Grove Fire & Rescue crews rolled out, and the neighbor drove toward the glow, finding a car fully engulfed in the driveway. The flames and darkness kept him from seeing anything more.
Firefighters knocked down the burning car and a small brush fire, then came upon a body. A second turned up moments later, and both appeared to have been shot in the head, Povolny said. Crews radioed dispatch and withdrew just before 5:30 a.m., and the first deputy was there in under four minutes. Sheriff’s deputies then formed a team to sweep the sprawling rural parcel, dotted with sheds, outbuildings and other structures. That sweep turned up all five bodies early on, grouped in or beside the driveway next to the main home.
The burned car held Chu’s body, and Mary Kimsey lay on the ground outside it. A second car parked in the driveway held Stella Kimsey, and Haraldsen lay on the ground close by. The walkway near the driveway and the home was where Rowan Kimsey was found.
More than one bullet struck Mary Kimsey, Rowan Kimsey, Stella Kimsey and Haraldsen, investigators said, and they suspect Chu died in the same manner. Evidence indicated a .22-caliber gun was used on all five, and shell casings littered the ground around the bodies. The fire burned so intensely that investigators could not initially rule out that the body inside the burned vehicle was Parker’s, so identifying the dead came first.
Separate Fires Set at Each Body
The first car was not the only thing torched. Each of the other four bodies was set alight separately by the suspect, authorities said, and the car holding Stella Kimsey’s body was among the things he tried to burn. A carport and the main home were also targets he failed to ignite. Tarps covered the bodies on the ground before the fires started; the melted material at first looked like duct tape, though investigators said no one had been taped, bound or moved.
A dead dog and two dead cats turned up inside the main home when deputies searched it, along with an injured cat that was rushed for emergency veterinary care and humanely euthanized on Monday, August 24. Toward the rear of the parcel lay another dead dog. Shooting had killed each of the five animals. New owners have since taken in the livestock kept there.
Suspect’s Body Found in Washington
Parker was found dead on Sunday behind a Safeway store in Enumclaw, Washington, about 200 miles from the crime scene, inside a vehicle belonging to one of the victims. A gun was in his hand and he had a gunshot wound to the head, investigators said, and the same .22-caliber handgun is one they believe was used.
Repeated pings in Enumclaw led the sheriff’s office to track his cellphone, and license-plate camera data followed, showing that the vehicle had entered the city five times and never left. No other weapons were in the car, Enumclaw police said, and evidence collected there was forwarded to Washington County investigators.
Phone records put Parker at the property on Friday evening and into the early hours of Saturday. His phone left at 4:42 a.m., moving south toward Forest Grove and then east.
The Suspect’s Mother Calls a Detective
Detectives were preparing a warrant charging Parker with five counts of murder in the first degree when Parker’s mother telephoned one of them. She said her son had called her the night before and confessed.
“He said he had been planning this for a while and that it was premeditated,” Povolny said. Three people were the number Parker told his mother he had intended to kill, by the detective’s account, but two more died. The animals, the fires and the attempt to burn down the property were also things he admitted to.
A reason was the one thing Parker never gave his mother. A motive still has not been established by the sheriff’s office, Povolny said, and the investigation remained open as of the August 25 news conference. Investigators, the detective said, were weighing how much to disclose against preserving the dignity of the five people who were killed.