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Parrish Bennette Jr. admitted to his father that his gun just "went off" and he shot Yashanee Vaughn and disposed of the 14-year-old girl's body, but when questioned by detectives in late March he denied making the statements, according to a court document prosecutors filed this week.

The document for the first time details the evidence that Portland homicide detectives have linking 16-year-old Bennette to Vaughn's killing, and it will be presented Friday morning at his bail hearing. Prosecutors will argue that Bennette be denied bail and remain in custody on charges of murder with a firearm and first-degree manslaughter with a firearm in Vaughn's death.

Vaughn disappeared March 19. Her body has not been found.


But investigators say they've recovered the firearm used in her killing, discovered bloodstains on the mattress and walls in Bennette's bedroom and found blood that had soaked through the carpet into the wooden floor. Forensic tests matched DNA from blood in Bennette's bedroom to Vaughn, the prosecutors' memorandum said.

Detectives also interviewed two of Bennette's closest friends, learning that Bennette gave them his gun and told them to get rid of it, a day after Vaughn disappeared.

On March 27, Bennette's father, Parrish Bennette Sr., told authorities that he had information his son was involved in Vaughn's disappearance. His son had told him that the gun "went off" and Vaughn was hit, according to the court document.

The younger Bennette voluntarily met that night with homicide detectives Mark Slater and Erik Kammerer in the Portland Police Bureau's detective division at the Justice Center. He denied any knowledge of what happened to Vaughn.

He told the detectives that he bought the girl dinner at the Taco Bell on Northeast 82nd Avenue, near his Northeast Russell Street home, about 6:45 p.m. March 19. He told them they parted ways after dinner, that Vaughn walked toward the MAX train, and that was the last he saw of her.

Yet detectives obtained Vaughn's cellphone records, which revealed that her cell phone was "pinging" off cellular towers in the area of Bennette's home after their dinner.

Early March 28, Portland police searched Bennette's home on Northeast Russell Street, and his grandparents' residence in Southwest Portland, where he happened to be staying at the time. Bennette and his grandparents had just returned from a trip to California.

When police first entered Bennette's bedroom, "nothing seemed out of the ordinary," prosecutors wrote.

But detectives found a professional-type steam carpet cleaner in the home. They looked closer, and spotted "slight discoloration" in Bennette's bedroom carpet. They pulled the carpet up and found "large and obvious blood stains in the carpet pad." When they pulled the carpet pad up, they found "..blood had soaked through the carpet, through the carpet pad and into the wooden sub-floor," prosecutors wrote.

Police also found several items of bloody clothing, blood spatter under Bennette's desk, and a "distinct swirl pattern" of blood on the wall beside the desk, consistent with an attempted clean-up, the memo said.

At his grandparents' home, detectives located a plastic bag hidden in a container that held bloody pieces of cloth that appeared to have been cut from a T-shirt.

Detectives found two cell-phone photographs that Bennette appeared to have taken of himself on March 18 -- the day before Vaughn disappeared -- standing in front of a bathroom mirror, mugging with a dark-colored revolver.

At a later date, a .38-caliber shell casing was found in Bennette's home and seized.

A significant break occurred May 26 when Portland detectives Slater and Kammerer interviewed a friend of Bennette's, Erick D. Butler, 20, who was being held on an assault charge in Clark County jail, stemming from a Vancouver gang shooting.

Butler told police that on March 19, he had been with Bennette's best friend, Bardolph McConnell, 21, and had overheard a cellphone conversation between the two in which Bennette shouted at Vaughn to shut up and yelled obscenities at her.

The next day, Butler and McConnell drove to Bennette's home to take Bennette to the hospital to visit his girlfriend, who had been pregnant.

Once Bennette got into the car, he showed them a black .38-caliber revolver and told the two friends, "I did something with this gun, bro, and you don't want to know about it."

Bennette told his friends that he had "served" with the gun, "meaning he had shot someone with it," the memo said.

Bennette handed the revolver to McConnell, and advised, "Don't get caught with this gun."

Several days later, the two friends heard of Vaughn's disappearance, and decided to get rid of the gun. Butler told police he wiped it with a towel, and he and McConnell sold it. McConnell corroborated Butler's account, police said.

On June 6, detectives tracked down the .38-caliber Colt Police Special revolver, which had exchanged hands several more times, the memo said. It matched the gun Bennette was flashing in his cellphone photo, and the .38 shell casing seized from his home.

Though Bennette remains in juvenile detention, he'll be appearing in adult court at 9 a.m. to face the Measure 11 charges. Vaughn's family plans to march to City Hall afterward.

"We want and deserve answers and so does the victim in this case, Yashanee," said her grandmother, Reynelda Hayes. "We have been cooperative and patient for three months but come Friday the community will hear our voices."

-- Maxine Bernstein

Researcher Lynne Palombo contributed to this report

Sixteen-year-old Parrish Bennette Jr., wearing a white dress shirt and black slacks that hung loosely on his 120-pound frame, was led this morning into a second-floor Multnomah County courtroom filled with family and friends of the 14-year-old girl he's accused of killing.

He looked at the crowd, his lips pursed, as he walked in with his hands cuffed in front of him and his ankles chained together.

Yashanee Vaughn disappeared March 19. Portland homicide detectives suspect Bennette shot and killed Vaughn in the bedroom of his Northeast Portland home that night. Her body hasn't been found.

About 60 family and friends wore shirts bearing Vaughn's smiling face on the front. They also had pinned on red ribbons with the 14-year-old girl's first name on them.

As soon as Judge Richard C. Baldwin entered the courtroom, Vaughn's uncle -- standing in the front row -- stood and glared at Bennette, and was quickly led out by sheriff's deputies.


"I'm free to go," the man blurted out, as he walked out of the courtroom, his eyes still locked on Bennette. Bennette turned briefly to look at the man, and turned back, shaking his head from side to side.

Prosecutors are expected to argue that there is strong evidence tying Bennette to Vaughn's killing, and he should remain in custody with no bail.

His defense lawyers, Thomas MacNair and Thaddeus Betz, are challenging that.

Vaughn's mother Shaquita Louis was the first witness called. Deputy district attorney Glen Banfield placed four smiling photos of Vaughn on an overhead projector, and asked her mother to identify the girl in the photo.

"My daughter, Yashanee Vaughn," Louis said.

Bennette kept his head down and didn't glance at the photos.

Vaughn's mother described her daughter as an 8th grader at Helensview School who was tied to her cellphone and Facebook. So when she didn't pick up her phone after March 19, or post anything on her Facebook page, she grew concerned.

Louis said she learned through talking with friends that Parrish Bennette Jr. was the last person to have seen her daughter that night. She called him four times after March 19, catching him at the hospital one day where a girlfriend was having his baby. He swore to her that he didn't know where Yashanee was, Louis testified.

Yashanee's family has organized several vigils to draw attention to Louis' missing daughter.

Prosecutors asked her why.

"The purpose is to get through to Parrish, you know, we suffered enough. I believe it's time for him to let us know where she's at," Louis said.

Portland homicide Detective Mark Slater said he was assigned the case on March 27, after Bennette's father alerted his son's juvenile counselor, Lynn Mangum, that he needed help and thought his son was involved in Vaughn's disappearance.

Parrish Bennette Sr. told police that when his son returned from a trip to California, he stayed at his grandparent's house in Southwest Portland. His son had been told not to stay at his father's house because the word in the community was that he was involved in Vaughn's disapperance.

His father went to talk to his son there about his expectations for him, while the young man was staying with the grandparents. Then Bennette Sr. said he asked his son if he had anything else he wanted to talk about, Slater testified.

That's when Bennette Jr. described for the first time to his dad what happened:

"He described what happened as an accident, that he had a gun, and it went off, and it struck her," Slater testified. "He said he got rid of her."

The father asked his son how he knew she was hurt or gone.

"He said, 'I knew,' " the father told police, Slater testified.

The father told police later he couldn't handle what he was hearing. He left the grandparents' house and called his son's juvenile counselor, seeking help.

She put him in contact with Portland police Officer Marci Jackson.

When Bennette Jr. accompanied his father to the detective division that night, he denied knowing anything about Vaughn's disappearance, but suggested she might have gotten hurt because her brother "is crazy."

After their initial interview with Bennette Jr. that night, police let him go.

But afterward, investigators could hear someone banging on the walls of the elevator that was carrying Bennette Jr. and others down from the 13th floor detective division of the Portland Police Bureau.

Slater later learned from Bennette Sr.'s girlfriend, who was present that night in the police elevator, that Bennette Jr. "was slamming his fists into the walls of the elevator."

"You told on me," Bennette reportedly said to his father as they drove him from the detectives division, according to Sheila Torrence, the father's girlfriend, Slater testified.

His father's girlfriend told police she urged Bennette Jr., "You need to say where she is."

Bennette Jr. just said, "They won't go up there. They won't find her up there," the father's girlfriend told police, Slater testified.

As a result of those statements, police searched Rocky Butte, about a block from the Bennette's home. They also searched an old driving range off Northeast 82nd Avenue, and land between the driving range and Rocky Butte, with no success.

Other searches over the last three months have included The Grotto hillside, and grassy areas near the I-84/I-205 interchange.

After a cadaver-detection dog appeared to hit on a scent of human remains at The Grotto, about 20 detectives returned to search there the next day. The next day, however, the dog didn't hit on any scent and nothing was found of evidentiary value.

As a result of anonymous tips, police also searched behind six Walmart stores in Portland, Troutdale and Vancouver.

Before a noon break for lunch, prosecutors showed multiple photos taken of Bennette Jr.'s room during a 5:15 a.m. search. on March 28.

They show blood on his mattress, blood on clothing in his closet, blood on a flashlight found in his room, blood on the white heel of a black-and white Nike sneaker, blood on denim shorts in the room, and blood stains on the floor beneath his bedroom carpet. An stain measuring about 2 feet by 2 feet was found underneath the desk in his bedroom.

Using a special chemical spray, police forensic experts detected blood swirls on the east wall of his room, suggesting an effort was made to clean up the blood, Slater said. Police also found bleach in a hallway closet, which was significant because Bennette Sr. had told police he detected a "bleach smell" coming from his son's room on March 20, the day after police suspect the 16-year-old killed Yashanee Vaughn.

Prosecutor Brian Davidson described it as a "startling amount" of blood, which the detective confirmed tested for human blood.

Bennette Jr. looked down most of the time the photos were placed on a large screen. At times, he wore a slight smirk on his face.

The hearing was recessed at noon and will resume at 2 p.m.

-- Maxine Bernstein

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/inde ... _up_l.html

Nearly four months to the day that Yashanee Vaughn disappeared, Portland police Friday discovered human remains on Rocky Butte, presumably belonging to the 14-year-old girl after her accused killer Parrish Bennette Jr. gave up the hiding spot.

About 1:40 p.m., police summoned Vaughn's mother and grandmother to Rocky Butte and briefed them on their findings. Two hours later, Acting Police Chief Larry O'Dea confirmed remains had been found, but said it would take a day or two to verify the identity. O'Dea is filling in for Chief Mike Reese, who is out of town at a conference this week.

Mayor Sam Adams spoke to reporters after walking down Rocky Butte to personally pay his respects to Vaughn's mother, Shaquita Louis. On a Northeast Russell Street sidewalk, in between Bennette's home and Rocky Butte, he gave her a long embrace.

"If this indeed is Yashanee's body here..., it brings a small, but very important and meaningful measure of closure to Yashanee's family," Adams said, speaking near the base of the heavily-forested volcanic cinder cone.

The renewed search at Rocky Butte came two days after Bennette's attorneys initiated a settlement conference before Multnomah County Judge Eric Bergstrom. Bennette's lawyers, Thomas MacNair and Thaddeus Betz, met with Bergstrom in his chambers. Prosecutors then met separately with the judge.

The district attorney's office Friday confirmed that Bennette, through his lawyers, provided the information that led police to the human remains. They asserted that no deal was offered to the 16-year-old defendant.

"No promises or agreements of any kind were made in connection with the provision of this information," according to a statement by the district attorney's office.

Portland police began securing the suspected crime scene off Northeast Rocky Butte Road Thursday night. By daybreak Friday, state police forensic experts, along with Portland homicide detectives and the lead prosecutors in the case, started a focused search on the downhill side of a tunnel, between the 2800 and 3300 block of Northeast Rocky Butte Road. Shortly after noon, state police forensic experts had erected a tent over a dirt site, red crime scene tape surrounding it. Bennette's lawyers were allowed to enter a cordoned-off area.

The location is not more than half a mile from the Northeast Russell Street home where police say Bennette beat and shot Vaughn in his bedroom March 19. Bennette faces first-degree murder with a firearm and first-degree manslaughter with a firearm.

"We all know why we're here," said Michelle Bart, the Vaughn family spokeswoman. "And we know what the conclusion is going to be. In the end, Yashanee will be laid to rest appropriately."

Bart thanked police, prosecutors and the mayor's office for working to get the family answers.

The family actually started hearing inklings on Thursday that Bennette had finally given up the location of Vaughn's body, after Bennette had made a phone call to a friend and word spread on the street, Bart said. Later Thursday, prosecutors and police alerted the family about the new information they'd obtained.

Family and friends who had pushed to keep Vaughn's face and name in the public eye since the girl disappeared gathered Friday at the base of Rocky Butte with chairs and coolers. At times, they stood holding hands, and in prayer. By evening, more than 100 supporters gathered for a candlelight vigil in Vaughn's memory. Some attending said they did not know the family well, but wanted to show their support, and said they wished the family could find peace.

"This is the goal we were reaching for," said family friend Ionka Martin. "It was definitely a grass-roots, cooperative effort. One part of me wants to say thank you to Parrish. The other part of me says we don't owe him anything."

Vaughn was last heard from on March 19. Police say Vaughn and Bennette met at a Taco Bell off Northeast 82nd Avenue that afternoon. Her last phone call was made at 7:22 p.m., and there was no further activity on her Facebook page. Vaughn's mother reported her missing two days later, and figured out that Bennette was the last person to have seen her.

Late March 27, Bennette's father alerted a juvenile counselor that he was concerned his son was involved in Vaughn's disappearance. Homicide detectives got involved that night. The father told investigators his son said he had accidentally shot Vaughn and got rid of the body. But Bennette denied confessing to the crime.

It was statements Bennette made to his father and his father's girlfriend while driving home from the detective division that night that first led police to Rocky Butte on April 1 with cadaver-detection dogs.

Sheila Torrence, his father's girlfriend, told police she urged Bennette "you need to say where she is."

Bennette just said, "They won't go up there. They won't find her up there," the father's girlfriend told police, according to detectives' testimony at his bail hearing.

On March 28, police searched Bennette's home, finding pools of blood beneath the carpet. Blood from his bedroom floor and wall matched Vaughn's DNA. Bennette, initially charged with violating his probation, was charged that week with murder.

As the weeks passed with no sign of Vaughn's body, the family, with help from a close network of relatives and friends, held vigils outside the juvenile detention center, hoping the detained Bennette would hear their pleas. On July 3, Shaquita Louis wrote an open letter to Bennette, urging him to give the family closure by telling authorities where they could find her daughter's body.

On July 7, a Multnomah County judge ordered Bennette held without bail, pending trial. His attorneys argued the killing was an accident, but prosecutors said the alleged beating and fatal shooting in Bennette's bedroom was no accident, and he likely discarded her body sometime between 9 and 9:30 p.m. on March 19, while his father was taking a shower.

Legal observers said Bennette's attorneys might have avoided disclosure of the body until after the bail hearing, in order to argue the killing was an accident, and thus deserving of the manslaughter charge, not murder. With the body, investigators could with more certainty determine how many times Vaughn was shot, and how badly she may have been beaten.

The family presumes the body is Vaughn's.

"In our minds, it's her," Martin said. "It's not anybody else."

When homicide detectives and prosecutors invited Vaughn's mother to Rocky Butte for a private briefing Friday afternoon, Vaughn's mother almost didn't want to find out the news.

"It was so hard getting her into that car," Martin said. "I just reached in and told Shaquita, 'Four months of strength' is what you take up there, and take God with you."

At the evening vigil Louis thanked the crowd for their support and said she was glad that her worries were over. "Nobody can really know what I am going through," she said. "It's like somebody ripped a hole out of my chest. "


Andrew Joseph contributed to this report.

-- Maxine Bernstein

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon State Medical Examiner has identified the remains found in a remote area outside Portland last week as the body of a missing 14-year-old girl.

The Portland Police Bureau says the remains are those of Yashanee Vaughn, who has been missing since March.

Portland police say Vaughn was killed by a gunshot wound to the head. The medical examiner's office made the identification through a DNA test.

The district attorney's office has said the discovery resulted from information provided by 16-year-old Parrish Bennette Jr.

Bennette has been charged with murder in the girl's death and is being held without bail pending trial. Police believe the killing occurred March 19

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