Portland, OR: Items located with Portland woman's remains linked killing to her husband, documents say

Published: Wednesday, July 14, 2010, 9:00 PM Updated: Wednesday, July 14, 2010, 11:09 PM
Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian
The remains of Heather Dawn Mallory, a Southeast Portland woman who had been missing since 2008, were found in a military-style duffel bag in a wooded area down an embankment off of U.S. Forest Service Road 4610.

Inside the bag, authorities also found a pair of size 32 men's running-style shorts and items that were missing from her and her husband's bathroom on the day of her disappearance, including a bent towel rack bar, a rubber bath toy and what appears to be remnants of their bathmat, according to an arrest warrant affidavit unsealed Wednesday.

That discovery helped investigators link Mallory's husband, Brian Charles Cole, 37, to her death.

Documents indicate that a neighbor of the couple's had reported to detectives having seen Cole load a large military-style duffel bag into a vehicle shortly after the woman's disappearance.

Cole, who was arrested July 1 at his home on Gun Club Road in Sagle, Idaho, appeared in Multnomah County Circuit Court for his arraignment this morning on a grand jury indictment. He pleaded not guilty to a single charge of murder constituting domestic violence.

A trial date has been set tentatively for Aug. 25.
View full sizePortland Police
Brian Charles Cole

The case also involved about 30 days of wiretapping of a cell phone authorities had Mallory's parents give to Cole. In phone calls with Mallory's parents, Cole frequently asked if any bodies had been located.

In an April 8 call this year, Mallory's
dad informed Cole that a body had been located in Portland, and Cole did not ask any further questions, leading investigators to believe Mallory was likely dumped outside of the Portland area, according to documents and prosecutors involved in the case.

The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office had notified Portland police homicide detectives on June 30 that a U.S. Bureau of Land Management worker found human remains off Oregon 224 on BLM land east of Estacada.

The remains were identified as Mallory's and items found beside the remains helped investigators link her death to her husband, authorities said. Authorities have not been able to determine how Mallory was killed.

Heather Mallory's son is now living with her parents in Gig Harbor, Wash.

Mallory, 32, was a former employee of the University Club in downtown Portland and had attended the Oregon Culinary Institute. She vanished on March 8, 2008.

A missing persons report filed at the time said Mallory was last seen leaving her home after an argument with Cole, her husband of 4 1/2 years. After she disappeared, Mallory's parents spoke openly about her strained relationship with Cole.

During the course of the investigation, documents show that detectives had a U.S. Navy team dive and do a grid search of Detroit Lake in October 2008 after learning that Cole had gone fishing there. The Navy divers were used because the dam is under the auspices of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, documents say.

-- Maxine Bernstein