Search for Missing Hiker Now a Murder Investigation

Susan Lane-Fournier, 61, disappeared in Oregon, and her estranged husband is charged
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 2, 2024 3:52 PM CST
Search for Missing Hiker Now a Murder Investigation
Susan Lane-Fournier.   (Clackamas County Sheriff's Office)

At first, police in Oregon thought they were looking for a missing hiker. Now the case has turned into a homicide investigation. The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office found the body of 61-year-old Susan Lane-Fournier on Friday after a week of searching in the area of Mount Hood National Forest in Welches, reports USA Today. Co-workers reported her missing on Nov. 22 when she failed to turn up for work, and a friend spotted her truck parked near a hiking trail. Her remains were eventually found by the side of a rural highway, near vacation cabins and hiking trails in the Mount Hood area, per People.

Police have arrested her 71-year-old estranged husband, Michel Fournier, and charged him with second-degree murder. Lane-Fournier had filed divorce papers in late October after 12 years of marriage, reports KGW. Authorities are still trying to piece together what happened, and a sheriff's office statement said "investigators are looking to speak with anyone who may have seen Michel Fournier in the days before her disappearance or who has information about his activity and whereabouts since then." Police also located the remains of two dogs believed to have belonged to Lane-Fournier. (More Oregon stories.)

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