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WARNING!: Description below may be disturbing to some readers.
This view shows the Oregon Department of Transportation maintenance station at Santiam Junction, Oregon where Highway 20/126 & Highway 22 split off. It was here that suspected serial killer John Ackroyd (1949-2016), a maintenance mechanic at the station, worked. He has been a suspect in a few unsolved disappearances & murders of women in the area in what is now known as the Ghosts of Highway 20. Here, 13-year-old Rachanda Pickle went missing. She was the daughter of Linda Pickle who married Ackroyd in the mid-1980s. They lived at Santiam Junction at Oregon 22 and U.S. Highway 20, where state highway work crews lived. The area is remote and there were no children her age there. She was bussed to school. Ackroyd was physically and sexually abusive to her. One day Rachanda was left at home alone. Ackroyd decided to take the day off and he returned home in the morning. She was never seen again. A massive search was conducted by 100 police officers from seven counties, but was unsuccessful in finding any leads to Rachanda's disappearance. Assumed to be dead, searches for her continued into 1993. After compiling evidence including a number of interviews, police arrested Ackroyd and he was charged with Rachanda's murder in April 2014. He entered a plea deal. According to Linn County District Attorney Doug Marteeny, his office reached a deal with Byron Pickle, the victim's brother, that placed the prosecution of the murder on hold "in a manner that would ensure that Mr. Ackroyd would remain in prison until his death." Ackroyd pleaded no contest and agreed not to seek parole, meaning that he would die in prison.
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The United States is one of the most diverse countries on earth, jam packed full of amazing sights from St. Patrick's cathedral in New York to Mount Hollywood California.The Northeast region is where it all started. Thirteen British colonies fought the American Revolution from here and won their independence in the first successful colonial rebellion in history. Take a look at these rolling hills carpeted with foliage along the Hudson river here, north of New York City.The American south is known for its polite people and slow pace of life. Probably they move slowly because it's so hot. Southerners tend not to trust people from "up north" because they talk too fast. Here's a cemetery in Georgia where you can find graves of soldiers from the Civil War.The West Coast is sort of like another country that exists to make the east coast jealous. California is full of nothing but grizzly old miners digging for gold, a few gangster rappers, and then actors. That is to say, the West Coast functions as the imagination of the US, like a weird little brother who teases everybody then gets famous for making freaky art.The central part of the country is flat farmland all the way over to the Rocky Mountains. Up in the northwest corner you can find creative people in places like Portland and Seattle, along with awesome snowboarding and good beer. Text by Steve Smith.
