By
Aimee Green, The Oregonian on October 26, 2012 at 8:06 PM, updated October 26, 2012 at 8:52 PM
In 44 pages outlining the case against accused killer Jonathan Holt, Gresham police paint the picture of a young man who was acting erratically -- dumping guns, ammunition boxes and apparently bloody linens in public places -- in the hours and days after 21-year-old Whitney Heichel went missing. After Heichel didn't arrive at work at 7 a.m. Oct. 16, friends and family scoured the region for her. But Holt, who was a neighbor of Heichel's, didn't take part and was nowhere to be found. Nearly 12 hours later, friends spotted Holt walking along Northeast 257th Avenue. When they offered him a ride, he refused, saying "I just need to finish clearing my head," according to search warrant affidavits made public Friday. The
documents offer a chilling and detailed summary into the investigation into Holt, who was indicted Friday in Clackamas County Circuit Court on charges of aggravated murder, kidnapping, robbery and sodomy. More Continuing coverage of Whitney Heichel, 21, of Gresham, who was reported missing after she failed to show up for work. During his brief court appearance via closed-circuit television Friday, Holt confirmed his birth date for Circuit Judge Katherine Weber and stared down most of the time. He again was wearing a suicide smock.
Weber set a Dec. 14 trial date for Holt, but that was a formality. It is likely that a trial is a year away. Conor Huseby, Holt's court-appointed attorney, declined to answer questions about the case.
The search warrant affidavits say that after Holt refused a ride from his friends Oct. 16, they tracked him down a short while later and pressed him to get into the car. Holt told them that he had been on the way to work at a Swan Island vending company early that morning when two black men robbed him at gunpoint, the affidavits say.
Holt didn't report the robbery to police that day, but when questioned by police on Oct. 17, he claimed that he was shaken up and he spent the entire day walking and crying.
Police say Holt, 25, repeatedly changed his story about the details of how he was robbed.
Holt's wife, Amanda Holt told detectives that her husband "said he just felt like he was a failure," that he lets "so many things build up I think he just loses it." Amanda Holt said she was having a hard time believing her husband's story of being robbed, according to the affidavits.
Jonathan Holt indicted on additional charges Jonathan Holt, who is accused of murdering Whitney Heichel, was indicted on additional charges Friday in Clackamas County Circuit Court.
Watch video Investigators flagged Jonathan Holt as suspicious almost immediately. The affidavits outline how Gresham police, Multnomah County sheriff's deputies and U.S. marshals secretly followed Holt around on the morning of Oct. 19 -- starting when he left his apartment for work.
Police say he showed up to work at Canteen Vending in North Portland, but hours into his shift, they watched him return to his car, rummage around in the trunk, then walk to some shrubs next to the business where he appeared to drop something. Police later recovered a black 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.
Whitney Heichel Oregon DMV Holt next drove to a field near Northeast 29th and Hale avenues in Gresham, where police saw Holt drop something in the grass. Police say Holt next walked to an apartment complex, where he appeared to drop something into the trash bins. Police later found 9 mm ammunition, an empty holster and crumpled boxes of ammunition in the field, nearby bushes and the trash bins.
Holt next drove to the Gresham Police Department for a prearranged interview. He walked over to an island of tall grass in the parking lot, then knelt down as if he were "pretending to tie his shoes," the affidavits state. Police later recovered a handgun from that spot.
After kneeling down, Holt reportedly walked to the front of the police department, threw his hands into the air, "ripped his reading glasses from his face" and then returned to his car "while staring at the ground," the affidavits say. Holt eventually turned around and went inside the police station for his interview.
During that interview, police say Holt admitted to kidnapping, sexually assaulting and killing Heichel on Southeast Thomas Road, a Clackamas County road that borders the south end of Roslyn Lake. He told detectives he disposed of her body on Larch Mountain.
Holt took detectives to the spot -- a turnout on the road -- where he said he shot Heichel to death.
Holt also admitted to downloading child pornography onto his laptop, the affidavits say.
Investigators have said that Holt admitted to asking Heichel for a ride as she left for work at Starbucks on Oct. 16, then pulling a gun on her five minutes into the ride.
Holt told investigators that two months before Heichel's disappearance, he and his wife had moved to the Heatherwood Apartments, on Southeast Mount Hood Highway in Gresham. The couples had attended the same church.
The Heichels trusted the Holts enough to give them a key to their apartment, so the Holts could water the Heichels' plants while they were away on vacation. Clint Heichel told investigators that he thought the Holts had returned the key.
A forensic scientist who examined Whitney Heichel's 1999 Ford Explorer concluded that someone had done a poor job of cleaning it up.
"There was blood in the creases and seams of the seats and yet the surfaces of the seat are mostly clean," wrote Gresham Detective Ryan Gleason, after speaking with the forensic scientist.
A "large quantity of blood" was found on the seats, and bone fragments appeared to be covered up by a floor mat. Investigators also found what appeared to be a bloody tooth, a clump of long hair, four spent 9mm shell casings in the SUV and a mostly used bottle of Febreze fabric freshener.
By Aimee Green, The Oregonian 
Whitney Heichel Oregon DMV Holt next drove to a field near Northeast 29th and Hale avenues in Gresham, where police saw Holt drop something in the grass. Police say Holt next walked to an apartment complex, where he appeared to drop something into the trash bins. Police later found 9 mm ammunition, an empty holster and crumpled boxes of ammunition in the field, nearby bushes and the trash bins. 
