Cold Case Team Solves 23-Year Old Homicide Case

This case was a collaborative effort between the Cold Case Unit, the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office and the Oregon State Police Forensic Laboratory.

42-year old Nancy Eileen Converse was murdered in 1987.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Cold case investigators in Portland have brought an end to a case more than two decades old.

The Portland Police Bureau reports that on Friday, June 11, 2010, 67-year-old James Samuel Owens was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder of 42-year old Nancy Eileen Converse.

Records indicate that Ms. Converse was murdered sometime between 31 January and 2 February 1987.

Her body was found in her apartment, located at 5700 N. Kerby, Apt #317, on 2 February 1987.

The Police Bureau's Cold Case Unit began investigating the case in 2006.

DNA from the case was sent to the Oregon State Police Forensic Laboratory and came back with a link to James Owens, who was already in prison on a 1989 rape charge.

This case was a collaborative effort between the Cold Case Unit, the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office and the Oregon State Police Forensic Laboratory.

Cold Case teams in Oregon have had many successes in recent years.

In the Portland area, Salem, and southern Oregon, retired investigators from throughout law enforcement come together to fill this unique need and role.