Warren Forrest

Warren Forrest was born on June 29, 1949, in Vancouver, Washington, the younger of two brothers of parents Harold and Delores Forrest. He attended the Fort Vancouver High School and competed on the school's track and field team, of which he became the captain. After graduating in September 1967, Forrest and his older brother Marvin were drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, where the former served as a fire control crewman for the 15th Field Artillery Regiment at the Homestead Air Force Base in Homestead, Florida.[1]

After his discharge, he returned to Vancouver and married his high school sweetheart Sharon Ann Hart in August 1969; they had two children. Shortly after their marriage, they moved to Fort Bliss, Texas, and then to Newport Beach, California, where Forrest enrolled at the North American School of Conservation and Ecology.[2] However, he quickly lost interest in studying and dropped out at the end of the first term. In late 1970, Forrest and his wife moved to Battle Ground, Washington, where he found a job with the Clark County Parks Department.[3]

Forrest's trial began in early 1979, but a mistrial was declared after Forrest's attorney erroneously allowed a second dart gun unrelated to the case to be submitted as evidence.[9] Forrest's defense team filed a motion for a change of venue from Clark County to Cowlitz County, arguing that the publicity surrounding the murders would prejudice the jurors against their client. The motion was granted, and the trial resumed in April 1979 at a court in Cowlitz County.[12]

During the proceedings, Forrest pleaded not guilty, claiming that he had been on vacation to Long Beach with his wife and kids.[13] His alibi was confirmed by his mother, who said Forrest had been at home at the time when investigators supposed Blake had gotten into the van.[13] However, her testimony was deemed unreliable, as prosecutors pointed out that she had originally told investigators that her son left the house in the early evening and did not return until the following morning.[13] Forrest's wife Sharon also testified in his defense, although she admitted that their marriage had been rocky and that Forrest sometimes suffered from blackouts. Sharon insisted that Forrest had been with her the entire time and never showed any indication of being violent towards women.[13]

Multiple witnesses testified against Forrest, stating that he had been seen with the victim at different times and was acquainted with her.[14] Some of the witnesses' claims were questioned by the defense team, as two of the witnesses had given descriptions of the suspected killer's vehicle that did not match the one Forrest was using.[14]

At one hearing, Forrest's surviving victims took the stand and identified him as their assailant. Forrest himself had pleaded guilty to the kidnapping and attempted murder of the 20-year-old woman, claiming that he had done so while under the effects of PTSD, but categorically refused to admit guilt in the murder of Blake and the kidnapping of the 15-year-old.[5] The prosecutor's office, in turn, insisted that Forrest was guilty of all charges, as each crime matched his modus operandi. Forrest was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment with a chance of parole.[8]

Following his conviction, he was transferred to the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.[15] Forrest filed an appeal in early 1982, but it was denied in October of that year.[16] He has filed numerous parole applications over the years, which have been unsuccessful due to the fact he was a suspect in other violent crimes.[3]

Since his initial convictions, Forrest has remained a suspect in multiple kidnappings, disappearances and murders committed in Clark County during the early-1970s. He has refused to cooperate with investigators. In 2017, at another parole hearing, Forrest confessed to murdering Krista Blake and to the initial kidnappings.[17] He stated that Blake had been deeply depressed at the time of her murder, as well as severely stressed and suffering from the effects of a mental illness, and claimed that he did not intend to kill her at first, but eventually did so because she attempted to escape. He also candidly confessed to a total of 16 crimes involving women between 1971 and 1974, ranging from voyeurism to murder.[17] In spite of this, he claimed that he had killed nobody else besides Blake, and that he was remorseful for his actions. Despite his admissions, his application was denied and he was prohibited from filing further appeals until March 2022. The Parole Board stated that he continued to pose a danger to society and made minimal progress in ameliorating his behavior.[17]

Besides Blake and Morrison, Forrest remains the prime suspect in the disappearances and murders of at least five teenagers and young women. In each case, the perpetrator exhibited a similar modus operandi to Forrest:

• Jamie Rochelle Grissim (16) was a student at the Fort Vancouver High School who went missing while walking home from school on December 7, 1971. During the subsequent search for her, policemen found a number of her personal belongings, including her purse and an ID card, in Dole Valley.[21] It was initially believed that she ran away and left the state, but she has not been located since.[22] Since Morrison was later found buried not far from where her personal belongings were found, local authorities have reassessed their conclusions and now believed that Grissim was abducted and killed by Forrest.
• Barbara Ann Derry (18) went missing on February 11, 1972. She was last seen on a highway trying to hitchhike from Vancouver to Goldendale, where she had moved to attend college. Her body was discovered on March 29 at the bottom of a silo inside the Cedar Creek Grist Mill.[23] Derry had died from a stab wound to her chest area.
• Diane Gilchrist (14) went missing on May 29, 1974. A ninth grade student at the Shumway Junior High School who had never exhibited problematic behavior, Gilchrist's parents claimed that she had left their home in downtown Vancouver through her bedroom window on the second floor and then vanished into the night. She has never been found, and her fate remains unclear.[24]
• Gloria Nadine Knutson (19) went missing on May 31, 1974. A 12th-grader at the Hudson Bay High School, Knutson had been invited to a housewarming party but declined, opting to instead visit a nightclub called "Red Caboose", where she was seen by several acquaintances. One witness told police that Knutson sought his help in the early morning, claiming that somebody had attempted to rape her and was now stalking her. The man claimed that she had asked him to drive her home, but his car was out of gas. Distraught, Knutson decided to walk home and disappeared soon after. Her skeletal remains were discovered by a fisherman in a forested area near Lacamas Lake on May 9, 1978.[25]
• Carol Platt Valenzuela (20) went missing on August 4, 1974, while hitchhiking from Camas to Vancouver. A married mother of two infant children, she was not known to be involved in prostitution or to have a criminal record. On October 12, her skeletal remains were discovered[26] by a hunter in the Dole Valley outside of Vancouver, very close to those of Morrison.[18] Due to this, authorities believe that Forrest likely killed both.[21]