SHERIDAN, Ore — Investigators say two people were discovered dead at a remote property in rural Yamhill County last week, both of them having suffered gunshot wounds.
Around 7:30 p.m. on May 30, deputies from the Yamhill County Sheriff's Office responded to a call at a home in the 11000 block of Southwest Dupee Valley Road — a large, remote property roughly between McMinnville and the town of Sheridan.
The 911 caller reported that they'd gone to the property to check on some animals there and found two people who appeared to be dead. Deputies soon confirmed that there were two dead adults inside the home and found evidence that the scene was "suspicious in nature."
Detectives from the sheriff's office Special Investigations Unit responded to investigate further, collecting and processing evidence. Some of that evidence is still waiting on analysis at the Oregon State Police Forensic Laboratory, the sheriff's office said.
The two people were identified as Prentis "Rusty" Hale III, 80, and Karen Hansen-Pieri, 60. Both had died from gunshot wounds, and the sheriff's office said that the initial investigation concluded that the shooting happened during an episode of domestic violence.
The particulars of how the shooting happened are still under investigation, the sheriff's office said.
"There is no threat to the community and due to the necessary time needed to complete preliminary investigative work and notify next of kin who do not reside in Oregon, no previous release of information regarding this incident was made," the agency continued.
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Both Hale and Hansen-Pieri had lived at the Dupee Valley property for the past five years, the sheriff's office said, though Hale had been there for a total of about 25 years.
Deputies responded to a call at the home involving Hale and Hansen-Pieri once before, in 2020, but the sheriff's office said that it was "non-criminal in nature."
