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An Oregon man who killed his commanding officer in the Army in 1976 and was freed on parole in 1988 is now charged in a cold case double murder that left two teens dead in 1974 — thanks to modernized ballistics testing, authorities said Friday.
And police are asking anyone with information on Steven Criss, 65, to come forward – because there might be “additional homicides.”
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said Friday that new testing shows Donald Bartron, 16, and Peter Zito Jr., 18, were killed with the same gun as Army Sgt. Jacob “Kim” Brown.
All three victims had been shot multiple times in the head with a .22-caliber pistol, according to the sheriff’s office. But the science at the time did not link the weapon to the teens’ deaths.
“Just before 4 a.m. on Oct. 3, 1974, an Oregonian newspaper delivery driver reported seeing a person on the ground next to a car parked at the Oak Hills Recreation Center,” Detective Mark Povolny said during a news briefing.
The first deputy, Jim Spinden, who later became the county sheriff, arrived on scene in under three minutes, he said. Spinden found Zito dead on the ground next to a 1956 Oldsmobile with the trunk and hood open.
Slumped over in the engine bay was Bartron, who investigators said was working under the hood at the time of the attack.
Bartron and Criss, who was then 17, worked together at the time at the Black Angus Restaurant, Povolny said, and Criss “had reason to be upset with Donny and Peter.” He did not elaborate.
Spinden arrested Criss on a theft charge two months later, Povolny said, and recovered an “illegally concealed .22” in his car – but forensics at the time found now link between that gun and the deaths of Bartron and Zito. The sheriff’s office had to return the firearm to Criss.
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Two years later, while in the Army and stationed at Fort Lewis in Washington, Criss used the gun to kill Sgt. Brown, whom he owed “a few hundred dollars.”
“Instead of paying his debt, he shot Sgt. Brown five times in the head,” Povolny said.
Criss pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 35 years – but he made parole in 1988 and was released from Fort Leavenworth, authorities said.
Earlier this year, detectives reviewing the case submitted ballistic evidence to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The ATF found “a presumptive match” between Brown’s death and the teen slayings, which took place at at the Oak Hills Recreation Center in October 1974.
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“This is the oldest known comparison and match on a prosecutable case,” the sheriff’s office said Friday. Oregon state police subsequently confirmed it as well.
A grand jury indicted Criss this week and deputies arrested him Wednesday using the same handcuffs Spinden had placed him in 48 years ago, Povolny said.
The sheriff also issued an apology to the family of a man who had been wrongfully arrested in connection with the case.
Joseph Amir Wilson was charged with the teens’ murders hours after they were discovered. The charges were dropped in 1975, and Wilson died in 2000.
“It is clear Wilson was innocent and should never have been arrested,” the sheriff’s office said.
Povolny added that the original detective on the case, Jim Welch, had “never believed” Wilson was responsible and, believing Criss had played a role, “documented and preserved vital evidence” in the days after the slayings.
Anyone with information on the murders or Criss is asked to contact the sheriff’s office at 503-846-2700.
“Detectives are also investigating the possibility Criss was responsible for additional homicides,” the sheriff added.