Travis Juetten was a resident of Marion County, Oregon, who was stabbed to death by a masked man who attacked him as Juetten slept inside his home in 2021.
Travis Juetten’s murder, which occurred in a rural area near Salem, Oregon, remains unsolved. His wife, Jamilyn Juetten, was also stabbed multiple times during the attack, but she survived it. The home is technically in Silverton, Oregon. The slaying occurred on August 13, 2021.
The unsolved murder of Travis Juetten is back in the news after the knife attack that killed four college students from the University of Idaho in November 2022. No connection has been found at this point; however, there are similarities between Juetten’s homicide and the way the college students died in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13, 2022. In addition, the stabbing death of Sandra Ladd in Washougal, Washington, in 2020, bears some similarities to the Moscow homicides.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. The Couple Awoke From Their Sleep to Find Themselves Being Attacked by a Masked Man With a Knife
FacebookTravis and Jamilyn Juetten.
Jamilyn and Travis Juetten were attacked in their home by a masked man with a knife in rural Marion County, Oregon, on August 13 2021, a GoFundMe says.
According to the GoFundMe page, “…the day they were to leave on their vacation, tragedy struck Jamilyn and Travis. Around 3 a.m. they were awoken from their sleep by someone attacking them with a knife.”
In the ensuing struggle, “Travis gave his life to save Jamilyn. Jamilyn was transported to the hospital with multiple stab wounds where doctors were able to operate, stabilize, and have started her rehabilitation therapy. It was at the hospital that she learned that her husband had died. Travis was 26 years old,” the GoFundMe reads.
According to KOIN-TV, the couple was scheduled to go on a Hawaii trip the next day. Jamilyn was stabbed 19 times, but she survived.
The masked man entered their bedroom, but Travis got up to fight him, KOIN 6 reported.
Alain Leon, told KOIN 6 News of Travis and Jamilyn, “He saved her life. He protected her from the attacker.” The television station reported that the couple lived “near the intersection of Howell Prairie Road NE and Hazelgreen Road NE,” and they were attacked around 3 a.m. There was another person in the home who was unscathed but may have scared off the attacker, the television station reported.
Moscow authorities believe the students were murdered between 3 and 4 a.m., that the attacker used a knife to slash them as they slept in their beds, and that two roommates in downstairs bedrooms were untouched.
2. All of the Stabbings May Have Happened on the 13th of the Month; Juetten’s Mom Is Hoping Law Enforcement Can Work Together to Solve the Cases
Myra Juetten, Travis’s mother, told The Independent, “I want answers for all five of them. If law enforcement can work together and solve both cases that would be the best Christmas present ever.”
The Idaho Tribune highlighted similarities among the stabbing deaths at the three different locations. Ladd “may have been attacked in the late hours of the night of the 13th of June 2020,” the newspaper reported. “If this is the case, all three incidents will have taken place on the 13h of their respective months, only a little more than 1 year apart.”
According to her obituary, Ladd died on Sunday, June 14, 2020, at the age of 71. However, again, it’s not sure exactly what time she was killed.
According to Juetten’s Facebook page, he studied at George Fox University, lived in Salem, Oregon, was from Montclair, California, and is survived by Jami Juetten. One of the only things visible on his Facebook page is a photo of him standing next to a masked man.
3. ‘I’m Existing. I’m Not Alive,’ Jamilyn Juetten Wrote
Jamilyn Juetten has written and sang of her heartbreak on Facebook.
“I’m existing. I’m not alive,” Jamilyn said in a TikTok video showing her singing.
In one Facebook post, she wrote:
I’m at the cemetery exactly one month short of the day that my entire world dropped out from under me. I cannot fathom that in just 1 month it’ll be a full year since my life ended. I didn’t physically die that night, somehow, but I might as well have. It feels like a few days since it all happened, and yet also feels as though I’ve had to live years and years without him…
Every day I don’t understand. Every day I have a million things I want to talk to him about. Every day, especially lately, it feels like there’s no way I’ll make it to that year mark. No way I’ll make it to the date the headstone will be placed. To the next ‘journey’ of moving, again. Yet every day I wake up despite feeling as though I cannot breathe and every day I cry myself back to sleep. I’m existing, I’m not alive.
4. The Police Chief in Moscow Says He Is Aware of the Stabbing Death of Travis Juetten
Google Maps
Four college students were stabbed to death in an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022.
The students died of homicide. The murders are unsolved. The motive is not clear. At least some of the victims were asleep in bed when they were attacked.
In a news conference, the Moscow chief, James Fry, was asked the stabbing death of Travis Juetten.
‘We have other agencies reaching out to us with other cases and stuff that we are going to follow up on those,” he said. “I actually had a tip come in on that case and I forwarded it,” he said.
Google MapsSandra Ladd residence
According to the Camas Post Record, the other area stabbing victim, Sandra Ladd “was the victim of homicidal violence and died after being stabbed in her torso.” The Idaho Tribune reported that she was stabbed to death in her bed, although the exact time is unclear.
She died in her home in the 1900 block of 41st Street in Washougal, on June 14, 2020, the Post Record newspaper reported. According to the Columbian, she was discovered deceased around 4:30 p.m.
That news site reported that Ladd “died of stab wounds to the torso.” Although they never made an arrest, authorities initially said there was no threat to the public.
Heavy has reached out to Washougal police for comment.
Online records give her exact address as 1903 41st St, Washougal, WA 98671-9022. Although some news sites say she died in an apartment and others in a home, Google Maps indicate that address is a home. The house sold in 2021 for $450,000, according to RedFin.
“Ladd was presumably sleeping in her Washougal, WA home, possibly in the late hours of the 13th, when an unknown intruder entered her residence and stabbed her to death. Her crime was never solved,” the Idaho Tribune reported, outlining similarities between Ladd’s death, a death in nearby Oregon, and the Moscow murders.
5. Juetten Was Remembered as a ‘Gentle Soul’ With Compassion for Others
FacebookTravis Juetten with his wife Jamilyn.
According to his obituary, Travis Richard Juetten, “son of Richard and Myra (Hari) Juetten, was born December 16, 1994. He grew up with one brother in Montclair, California. Growing up, Travis was an active kid, playing football in high school and taking lessons in Tae Kwon Do, earning his black belt.”
The obit continues:
He was on the Mock Trial Team at Ontario Christian High School where he graduated in 2013. During his time at Ontario Christian, Travis was able to travel to Washington D.C. and surrounding areas to learn all about this beautiful country we live in. He also went to London and Ireland and decided that America was still the most amazing country. He was able to travel to China and Hong Kong during a school trip and learned much about their culture. Travis attended George Fox College in Newberg, Oregon for just four semesters, but decided it was not where he wanted to be, and he returned home to California.
As a child, Travis traveled to many countries with his family. He loved the Caribbean and was able to travel to Cancun, Cozumel, Cabo San Lucas, the Grand Caymans and Belize. He loved Hawaii where he traveled as a child. He was leaving to go to Hawaii for two weeks the morning that he died. During his childhood, he spent many hours camping and riding his Quad in the winter time and during the summer, spent time with family and friends at the family lake house at Temple Bar on Lake Mead riding the jet ski and having fun on the boat. He was an avid swimmer and loved the water. But Travis could not get Oregon off his mind, so he returned to live on the family farm near Silverton, Oregon, in the house his mother grew up in. Travis met and fell in love with Jamilyn Rodriguez and the two were married on February 7, 2018, making their home on the farm.
The obituary calls Juetten “a gentle soul, kind, compassionate, and softspoken. He was slow to anger and quick to forgive. He was an amazing soul and grew into an incredible man who never made a single enemy. He was a joy to be around and had a tremendous moral compass. Travis would always see the best in people and was always willing to help anyone in need. Anyone who knew Travis would say he was a very encouraging and supportive friend.”
According to the obit, “Travis was very intelligent and a master of strategy-based games, especially board games which he loved to play with family. Anyone who played at the same table as Travis knew that he was a dominant presence. He never bragged or talked down to another player, instead preferring to teach and improve other players. He introduced many new and diverse games both digital and table top to his friends, many which they still play to this day.”
He was a vegan who loved nature and camping.
“Travis was a quiet man, one who found his own purpose and didn’t feel the need to advertise his goals and achievements to the world,” the obituary said. “…Although Travis was not a religious man, he was deeply moral and wanted to do good in every circumstance he found himself in. Even when it cost him personally to make the right choice he chose not to take the easier path forward if he knew in his heart it was the wrong one.”
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