Parent's think Holly Berry was abducted.

In this undated photo, Holly Berry is seen in The Blanket Lady store in Coos Bay. Berry was reported missing Jan. 4. Friends say she was a shy woman who was kind and is greatly missed.

March 27, 2013 4:03 pm • By Ryan Haas, The World

Holly Berry Memorial
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Full statement From Holly Berry’s Parents
We would like to acknowledge and thank the Coos Bay police for their untiring efforts with Holly’s case. It has been complicated and difficult and we know they have done all they could. We also know that they have restrictions on what they can say about any case. Hard evidence is needed to be able to make a statement. Statements to the public about what the circumstances seem to indicate or how the situation appears to them are not allowed. However, it is okay to make a statement based on the State Medical Examiner’s report, which has been done. It read, according to The World (3.18.2012), ““Based on the autopsy and a thorough scene investigation ... there was no indication Holly was the victim of violence or other criminal activity,” Coos Bay police said in a statement Monday. “Instead, her death appeared to be a result of falling into a fresh water creek and drowning.”” Consequently, The World headline read; “Autopsy: Drowning was an accident”.

While this is still very sad and unfortunate, now the community can rest at ease not having to worry about a kidnapping murderer on the loose. Or can they? From our (and many other’s) view, the circumstances indicate otherwise. Although it will be two or three months before we can expect to receive a copy of the autopsy report, we were told by the Police that the report stated the cause of death was undetermined, with a probability of fresh water drowning. What that does not say is that drowning was an accident, if drowning was the cause of death at all. The truth is the medical examiner was unable to determine the exact cause of death.

For those of us who knew Holly well, the probability that she accidentally drowned was highly unlikely. There are several reasons for this conclusion. She was seen by a very credible witness at 4:15PM, about 20-25 minutes before dark, walking east on Newmark a few hundred feet short of Walmart. She did not make to Walmart’s parking lot, according to surveillance camera tapes. So, she either turned around or was picked up at that time. Had she turned around and walked the several blocks to the site where her body was found, it would have been nearly dark by the time she got there. It would alsohave been getting colder, she would have been getting hungry and would soon have been in need of taking her meds. The terrain down into the creek area was much too difficult for her to traverse and there is no way she would have gone into there at that time and by herself, (not even at high noon on a sunny day with someone else)! Holly just DOES NOT do “off-road”. Add to that the fact that some of her things, which she always had with her, were missing when she was found, including her I.D. and cell phone. According to police, her cell phone was turned on five days after she went missing. Who turned that phone on and how did they come to possess it? If they were not involved in her death why did they not report her location and claim the reward that was offered? Also, why was there no scent trail from the Devereux Center, where dog teams had tracked her, to the location where she was found? This suggests to us the likelihood that she did not walk there, but was taken there at a later time.

Unfortunately, for Holly and the community, the most likely scenario was that she was abducted, kept for a period of time and then either murdered and dumped where she was found or taken there and forcibly drowned. This is not easy for us to be able to say, but for the community’s sake we feel it is necessary to have the likely truth out there. Another woman could be at risk.

COOS BAY — The parents of a formerly missing Coos Bay woman say they don’t believe their daughter’s death was an accident.

Pearl and Jay Maxner, the parents of 34-year-old Holly Berry, said in a statement Wednesday that the manner of her death is not clear. Police said they believe the most likely scenario is Berry accidentally drowned in a creek.

“For those of us who knew Holly well, the probability that she accidentally drowned was highly unlikely,” the Maxners said in their statement. They pointed out that the terrain near the creek where she was found was densely wooded and somewhere Berry would not have gone on her own.

“Holly just DOES NOT do ‘off-road,’” they said.

“The most likely scenario was that she was abducted, kept for a period of time and then either murdered and dumped where she was found or taken there and forcibly drowned.”

Berry was reported missing in January. She was found March 14 in a wooded area behind the former DV8 nightclub in Empire.

Coos Bay police concluded from an autopsy and crime scene investigation that “there was no indication Holly was the victim of violence or other criminal activity.”

Coos Bay Police Sgt. Eric Schwenninger said he understands the parents’ frustration with their daughter’s death. He said some of the original information from the case may have been incorrect, causing confusion about what investigators ultimately concluded.

A “seemingly credible” tip received during the investigation indicated Berry was seen walking toward Walmart along Newmark Avenue, away from where her body later was found. But surveillance tapes don’t show her arriving at Walmart, the Maxners said.

“So, she either turned around or was picked up at that time,” they said.

Though police initially thought the tip accurate, Schwenninger said he no longer believes it is consistent with the information the police have.

“The problem with that tip is that if she’s headed eastbound ... toward Walmart she would be coming into a video camera view within a half a block,” he said.

Berry never appeared on that camera. Schwenninger said he believes police would have received numerous tips if Berry, who was wearing brightly colored clothes at the time, had been abducted on a busy avenue around 4 p.m. on a Thursday.

“I have the same concerns as the family does. Those two pieces of information don’t match up,” but it is likely the person who gave the information incorrectly remembered the time or place of the sighting, Schwenninger said.

The Maxners also said Berry’s cellphone “was turned on five days after she went missing.”

Police never found Berry’s cellphone, but Schwenninger said it’s possible a transient or someone from the nearby Devereux Center was walking in the woods, found her phone and activated it.

Speaking to The World, Jay Maxner said “had a person found the cellphone, they would have found Holly, which meant they would have been able to collect a $2,000 reward. Passing that up seems pretty unlikely to us.”

Another issue for the family is the autopsy’s inconclusive findings on the manner of Berry’s death. While the report gives a clear physical cause for her death — freshwater drowning — it left undetermined what may have caused her to drown. Coos Bay police said they have no evidence indicating the death was anything but accidental.

“The reason there is no evidence is because time, weather and decomposition would have destroyed any evidence that may have existed,” Jay Maxner said. “For us, this does not prove death was accidental.”

Though police say they have determined the most likely scenario for Berry’s death, the case will never be entirely closed.

“If something came up tomorrow, we’d be ready to pick up right now and continue with that investigation,” said Chief Gary McCullough. “We still have everything we need if something pops up.”

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Lot's of information here:

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Coos Bay Police have positively identified the body that was found behind the DV8 Lounge in Empire last week as Holly Berry after an autopsy this weekend. According to Police, Berry may have fallen into a fresh water creek and drowned. Berry had been missing since January. Friends of Holly Berry will conduct a memorial on Wednesday morning at 10:30 AM in the parking lot of the DV8/Former Gussies. Coordinators ask that if you attend that you wear purple, Holly’s favorite color.

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Thanks for posting Holly's story Wrap. So much crime going on in Coos County....Non stop.

You're welcome, Cory.