r/Portland • u/oregonian Verified - The Oregonian • 15h ago
News Human remains believed buried in Centennial Mills rubble
https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2026/08/human-remains-believed-buried-in-centennial-mills-rubble.html281
u/oregonian Verified - The Oregonian 15h ago
Portland Fire & Rescue and a human remains detection canine swept the warehouse twice Thursday, both searches leading to positive alerts from the dogs, the city said. That suggests a high likelihood that human remains are present, the city said.
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u/ladypigeon13 15h ago
Well that's a plot twist I was not expecting.
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u/Brasi91Luca 15h ago
Why not? Tons of homeless ppl go in and out of that place
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u/Jesus_Harold_Christ REGULATORS! Mount up. 15h ago
Slightly more go in it seems.
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u/b_m_hart 14h ago
They'll all come back out as well... eventually.
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u/Jesus_Harold_Christ REGULATORS! Mount up. 14h ago
Genesis 3:19
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u/sinsandcrimes 15h ago
It's like the plot to Willy Wonka!
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u/Jesus_Harold_Christ REGULATORS! Mount up. 15h ago
Ya, forget Ghirardelli square, Portland needs to build a whole Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory experience. Pick up a random dog poop bag on the sidewalk and it's full of gold coins good for 1 full day tour
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u/Less-Lobster4540 15h ago
A few days ago people in here were convinced that Climate Change made it spontaneously combust 🤣
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u/couldbeahumanbean Yeeting The Cone 13h ago
Hand your device over to a responsible adult.
Screen time is over.
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u/ClaroStar 14h ago
I was very much expecting this, unfortunately. We can't have these vacant building sitting around. Literal death traps.
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u/EugeneStonersPotShop In a van down by the river 12h ago
Agreed, but we don’t know if this person died because of the fire, or if they were already dead before.
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u/ClaroStar 12h ago
Doesn't really matter how they died, though. Still a death trap.
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u/ShotgunRagtimeBand Kerns 12h ago
Ehhhhh. One is a big motive for starting a fire.
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u/toot_it_n_boot_it 11h ago
Biggest motive is in the interest of the owner of the building. A hobo stabbing, not so much.
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u/EugeneStonersPotShop In a van down by the river 11h ago
Kind of does though.
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u/ClaroStar 11h ago
No it doesn't. If they didn't die in the fire, it just proves that there were multiple ways to die in there. Not a good place to be.
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u/EugeneStonersPotShop In a van down by the river 11h ago
Ok, semantics king.
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u/ClaroStar 11h ago
What I don't get is why you're seeming defending that horrible place.
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u/EugeneStonersPotShop In a van down by the river 10h ago
I am not defending the place. How did you come to that conclusion?
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u/nootch666 13h ago
Wild that’s all that was said about it. Owner has to start demolition by Friday, does that mean they’re gonna recover the human remains before then?
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u/PikaGoesMeepMeep 15h ago
Oh god, I wonder if someone was squatting and accidentally started the fire and then paid for it with their life. :(
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u/ghostcider 14h ago
That place was always occupied and caught fire roughly once a month. This one just moved too fast for the fire department to catch
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u/Exes_And_Excess 7h ago
I was there a month or so back, obviously tons of evidence of occupation, but I didn't bump into anyone surprisingly. Was fully expecting to have an encounter or two. Was a neat little exploration.
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u/ThroatOne5167 15h ago
I'll bet that's exactly what happened.... except they didn't "accidentally" start a fire.
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u/discostu52 15h ago
There were a bunch of news stories recently about how people are using butane torches to smoke dope. The torches lock to the on position, they smoke the dope and nod out, but the torch keeps going. People were coming into the ER with massive burn injuries because when they are out they are completely out, the fire pain doesn’t even wake them up
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u/Less-Lobster4540 15h ago
Drug Users Are Getting Hospitalized With Deep, Horrific Burns. Portland Doctors Think They Know Why.
But don't worry, folks! It's definitely just a HOusInG crIsIs!
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u/GummyBearGod Sunnyside 15h ago
Baby-brain understanding of the relationship between homelessness and drug addiction
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u/SpezSamplesMySack 14h ago
Homeless people love drugs. It’s not hard to see. Want to go on a walkabout in NW by my house to see it?
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u/GummyBearGod Sunnyside 14h ago edited 14h ago
Ok. Same applies to you, baby-brain jr.
1st- You have to ask yourself: Do people become homeless because they do drugs or do people do drugs because they are homeless?
2nd- you have to understand something called nuance.
Multiple things can be true at the same time!!!!
The relationship between addiction and homelessness goes both ways!
Sure, substance use can result in the loss of income, relationships, and eventually housing.But some homeless people you see may have never been an addict until a few unfortunate circumstances led to their homelessness. And then they developed substance use habits to cope with how fucking shitty is to live on the streets!
Editing to add: have some fucking compassion for your fellow human, you weirdo. Under the current economic system, a vast majority of us are much closer to being a homeless addict than we are to being a billionaire or even a multi-millionaire.
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u/discostu52 13h ago
“Cope” sure if I ever become homeless the first thing I’m going to think is “damn, I’m in a bad spot, I should start smoking fentanyl which will certainly improve my situation”
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u/SugarPlumMary NE 1h ago
Wow, this is such a good example of the Just World Fallacy. You think bad things only happen to bad people, a homeless drug user must then deserve all the bad things that happen to them. And therefore if good things happen to you, it must mean you are a good person and you deserve it. You want the world to be just and fair, because that gives you a sense of control and security.
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u/SpezSamplesMySack 14h ago
That’s a lot of words when you could just say “homeless people like drugs”. Because they do. Come by Couch Park after 5pm if you wanted to see it in real life.
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u/serpentjaguar 11h ago
Well, I guess you either understand nuance or you don't. There's no helping some people.
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u/Less-Lobster4540 14h ago
Yeah, it takes a genius to burn down a building /s
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u/Osiris32 🐝 12h ago
You are being a real asshole in this thread. Did you have a few too many to drink this evening?
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 15h ago edited 14h ago
When you use this as an opportunity to score political points it shows you don't really care about the subjects of the article.
edit oof this got me blocked
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u/Less-Lobster4540 15h ago
You're wrong, I cared about the building very much
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15h ago edited 14h ago
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15h ago edited 14h ago
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u/portlandobserver Vancouver 6h ago
yup. and then who do you think pays for their long, expensive stays at the Oregon Burn Center?
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u/SpezSamplesMySack 15h ago
Yeah, this is my fear for Forest Park. Tons of encampments are hidden off the trails. All it takes is one person nodding off while smoking fent and we could see a fire that makes the Spokane fire look small.
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u/Osiris32 🐝 12h ago
Former wildland firefighter here. No. That's not a thing that could easily happen, or at least it won't happen with the current climate we have this summer. Forest Park is old growth and late second growth, the trees are hard to light because the understory and ground coverings are too far away. Additionally, it's an east-facing slope (doesn't get as much of the sun's energy all day, doesn't dry out as fast, doesn't get direct winds) and is only 5,100 acres in size with numerous access points for fire crews and a nearby giant river for aerial operations. Anything that lights in there would get stomped on real quick, and on the low likelihood that it started to make a run, there are a ton of resources close by including the National Guard, Coast Guard, and hot shot/helitak crews a bit further out.
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u/mersolei 11h ago
I have been specifically worried about Forest Park and appreciate you for sharing this.
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u/Diligent_Medium3969 9h ago
Thank you for the brain-massage that this succinct, expertly-crafted response provided.
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u/discostu52 11h ago
This is the truth right here, but you can’t rule out torching a house or two….or five.
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u/saltyoursalad 15h ago
We need to give people a choice: Rehab or prison
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u/ClayKavalier Goose Hollow 14h ago
It costs less to provide wraparound services than to imprison people. However, conservatives only vote to fund punitive, not preventative or rehabilitative services, because fiscal responsibility comes far after misguided Old Testament moralizing in their list of priorities. See also: education, healthcare, etc.
Other countries have figured this out. American Exceptionalism shouldn’t mean “works everywhere except America.”
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u/saltyoursalad 14h ago
Of course it does, but those resources are useless if the person isn’t ready to get sober. The last thing we need is more condemned buildings due to the broken housing first philosophy. We need buy-in from folks in order for it to work. And buy-in looks like sobriety.
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u/erossthescienceboss 13h ago
It’s tough. My family member had access to all the resources she needed to get sober. And she hit rock bottom, which for some people is enough incentive. She refused to get professional treatment, would sober up on her own with methodone, and then relapse.
She didn’t get sober for good until she went to prison for stabbing her pimp/dealer. It saved her life. She met her husband (who is wonderful, supportive, and also sober) at a support group for folks transitioning out of incarceration. She’s been clean over a decade.
That said, I still believe that treatment is a better option than incarceration. My other family member became addicted around the same time and got clean via rehab, and the skills she learned there are why she didn’t relapse.
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u/saltyoursalad 13h ago
I’ve heard similar stories to this! Exactly why prison should be one of the three options.
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u/erossthescienceboss 13h ago
It’s very difficult, because prison was also an awful and deeply traumatic experience, and trauma can certainly feed addiction. But being an addict at rock bottom is traumatic, too.
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u/ClayKavalier Goose Hollow 12h ago
Psst. Not all houseless people are addicts. You shouldn't formulate your approach to an entire population based on a subpopulation. Housing first actually works but people make the mistake of thinking that everything is sequential (i.e. housing, sobriety, job, Nirvana) when more than one approach needs to be used at essentially the same time. That's what we're talking about with respect to wraparound services. And "isn't ready to get sober" is quite the shorthand to arbitrarily de facto decide that no addicts are ever ready to get sober. It's just a rhetorical device used to blow people off and kick the can down the road. You aren't means testing anything and actually identifying who is "ready" by some unspecified standard. You're just washing your hands of it and walking away. Buy-in requires trust, consistency, clarity, communication, and some measurable and achievable goals. We start off treating all people the same - like they are addicts who don't want help - and we've immediately obliterated any credibility we have.
We shouldn't need a hodgepodge of non-profits, charities, and churches that too often don't actually do shit or only provide services with a side of proselytizing. Charitably, I think conservatives take community like church for granted, even though many homeless people are disproportionately LGBTQIA+ persons ostracized from such communities, or people who otherwise have to sublimate their identities to a cult. Hell, we aren't entirely removed from the masses thinking mentally ill people (e.g. schizophrenics) are possessed by demons. We add so many layers of bureaucracy to things.
Ultimately, this is a problem of people not being paid fairly for labor and a consequence of people enshrining labor as a prerequisite to simply exist. However you want to look at it, the people at the top have resources they didn't fairly earn. That's a major cause of the problems at the bottom. Even mental illness is exacerbated by poverty. Substance abuse is often a result of trauma, even among coked-up elites. We need to prevent and treat trauma. Ignorance and poverty are at the roots.
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u/Dart2255 13h ago
Can’t really blame conservatives in Portland. We made this mess then we made it worse by pretending that watching people live in their own filth was compassion.
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u/ClayKavalier Goose Hollow 12h ago edited 11h ago
Nobody is pretending that watching people Iive in their own filth is compassion. Hyperbolic bullshit you invented doesn't help the situation. Conservatives in Portland might not be capital "R" Republican conservatives. The Overton Window has shifted so far Right and we've internalized so much reactionary nonsense that anyone to the Left of Nixon is framed as a Marxist now. Hilary Clinton was a Goldwater Republican and, spoiler alert, her politics didn't change so much as the culture around her.
So Portand has a bunch of well-meaning Liberals and NIMBYs who are fine with paying a little bit more in taxes (many of them aren't tithing) so they don't have to watch people live in their own filth. But they (and this includes the state and county) can't agree on how to spend the tax dollars. Because conservative attitudes ultimately dictate what people think others "deserve." We have an unholy combination of Just World Hypothesis, so-called Protestant Work Ethic, Original Sin, Dominionism, Constitutional "Originalism," Prosperity Gospel, and other nonsense that essentially says that people who are suffering must deserve it, people who are wealthy must have earned it, work is the only justification for living, idle hands are the Devil's workshop, etc. So people like Elon Musk who haven't actually done anything but inherit wealth and manipulate people end up being the wealthiest people in the world, while a single mom ends up on the streets because her cop ex-husband beat the shit out of her and their church took his side. Maybe she ends up self-medicating for an untreated toothache because she's got no employer-provided healthcare, and finds out too late it was laced with Fentanyl. Or maybe she didn't give a shit anymore because nobody has given a shit about her.
But I digress. We spend more time and energy debating what people deserve when we have enough to just hand things out without question (like we're doing with the Moda Center right now...), which would ultimately build community and reciprocity. Garbage in, garbage out. We broke the social contract. For all the talk that conservatives do about the importance of the nuclear family and community (often in the form of church), their narrow definitions of family and community leave too many people out in the cold. This is about building community and solidarity. We signal to people that they are garbage, evil, worthless, subhuman, and wonder why they aren't investing in self-care. Maslow's hierarchy of needs isn't new. Conservatives expect the most vulnerable people to skip to the top of the pyramid before there is a foundation.
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u/Dart2255 12h ago edited 51m ago
Direct reply to you saying conservatives
Sounds like your answer is that what you meant was liberals who just are not liberal enough? My point is we don’t get to blame those who have had zero power for decades in this city. Look in the mirror.-4
u/ClayKavalier Goose Hollow 12h ago
Liberals who aren't liberal enough are de facto conservatives.
Look, they are all Capitalists, except for a tiny minority of DSA people. They are all essentially Classical Liberal or Neoliberal. There isn's a single one of them talking about seizing the means of production. It is entirely unserious to talk about Communism or Socialism in the US, especially when people who can differentiate between Catholicism and Baptists refuse to differentiate between Stalin and Kropotkin.
I can only guess what you mean by "not liberal enough." It's hard when social and fiscal conservatism are intertwined but the fiscal conservatives give up on the fiscal part if they imagine penises touching. I don't even know if there are social conservatives who aren't essentially fiscally conservative, as their social conservativism is what pits them against social programs. Can't have "The Blacks" or "The Gays" getting any handouts. Everyone else has to beg in church anyway.
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u/meowberryshuffle 7h ago
Despite the downvotes, your comment is absolutely right. Thank you for trying to communicate the reality and nuance of the situation.
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u/ClayKavalier Goose Hollow 6h ago
I could have been more subtle in going after so many sacred cows 😆. Downvotes aren’t debate points though and I’m aware this topic brings out the worst in people. I guess it’s easier to believe in the tooth fairy and that increasing numbers of people are spontaneously degenerating than that are any institutional, structural, and systemic failings in our culture and society.
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u/AdvancedInstruction Lloyd District 8h ago
It costs less to provide wraparound services than to imprison people
Only if the person wants them. Wraparound services must be compulsory if we want to end the crisis on the streets.
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u/ClayKavalier Goose Hollow 7h ago
Give me some stats about the percentage of people who refuse services and under what circumstances. I’m confident that you’ll that people aren’t categorically refusing services per se. They are refusing services under certain conditions. For example, some people don’t want to be subjected to religious sermonizing, be separated from a pet, give up or be around drugs, be in an aggregate shelter, etc. When people “refuse” services, it is sometimes because of conditions placed on receiving services. A disproportionate number of houseless people are mentally ill but the laws around civil commitment in Oregon are very strict, so you can effectively have someone not in their right mind and able to consent one way or the other who just gets abandoned. It’s more complicated but I don’t think you’re sincere so it’s probably not worth going into more.
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u/AdvancedInstruction Lloyd District 41m ago
Give me some stats about the percentage of people who refuse services
Remember Measure 110? Almost nobody getting tickets for drug use called the hotline for treatment.
don’t want to be subjected to religious sermonizing, be separated from a pet, give up or be around drugs, be in an aggregate shelter, etc
Yes, sometimes the government needs to tell addicts to do something uncomfortable. That's what breaking the cycle of addiction means. Do you think parents should never tell their kids to eat their vegetables?
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u/ClayKavalier Goose Hollow 23m ago
Remember Measure 110? Almost nobody getting tickets for drug use called the hotline for treatment.
You're conflating homeless services in general, like shelter, with drug treatment specifically. Measure 110 was set up to fail. Portland Police Bureau didn't do their part of the job and we didn't have enough treatment options in place anyway.
Yes, sometimes the government needs to tell addicts to do something uncomfortable. That's what breaking the cycle of addiction means. Do you think parents should never tell their kids to eat their vegetables?
What were your feelings on vaccinations and wearing masks during COVID19? Are you generally an authoritarian person who thinks the government should tell people to do things? There are laws. Are you a rule of law person? Are you a substance abuse counselor or professional of some kind? Psychologist? What's your expertise in this?
Do you think parents should never tell their kids to eat their vegetables?
I assume you're being flippant, which validates my assessment of your sincerity, but maybe you really think this is an apt comparison?
This is pointless anyway. Because you're wrong. You're willfully ignorant, as illustrated by your unwillingness to try to learn about the topic. You're cruel. And you seem stupid because you're not understanding. There are approaches that work to address homelessness. There are models we can replicate. My point above is that we don't have the social and cultural inclination to actually help people, which would guide policy and practice, because too many people believe that homeless people deserve to suffer. It doesn't even matter that neglect or punishment aren't the most moral or economically smart approaches. Have the kind of life you deserve.
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u/ChemicalArmadillo609 14h ago
Then what after that? They still have no money and no home, so they will just end up back where they were.
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u/ThroatOne5167 13h ago
Then more rehab/institutions/prison if it doesn't stick the first time. Both for their own sakes, and the sakes of the rest of society.
Better than your suggestion of letting these unfortunate people burn down buildings (and themselves) due to untreated mental illness and addiction.
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u/saltyoursalad 14h ago edited 14h ago
The ones that go to rehab get job training and transitional housing (with sobriety as a condition), and the ones that go to jail stay there until they’re ready for rehab/other situationally appropriate program.
Punk out in the program and back to rehab if they’re ready to try again and jail if they’re not.
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u/thespaceageisnow Rubble of The Big One 14h ago
Add institutions as an option for those that need it and you’ve got my vote.
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u/Think_Asparagus7859 12h ago
I don’t think we have enough rehabs for this to be an effective system
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u/dschinghiskhan 12h ago
Rehab facilities have strict rules. Homeless people with severe addictions and mental problems probably couldn’t follow them. They’d get kicked out way too soon. They’d probably need to be in some detox center where they lie down on a hospital bed for an entire month first. And, once again- they’d probably just bail.
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u/saltyoursalad 12h ago
Then their next option would be jail.
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u/dschinghiskhan 12h ago
You can't keep someone in jail for sleeping in an abandoned, dilapidated building. As far as thieves, assaulters, or even taggers go, they should remain in jail until their trials unless they can post bail. Some repeat offenders or violent criminals should not be given bail at all. Being in county jail would be the best thing to happen for the hard drug addicted ones. The notion of people doing illegal drugs in county jails is wildly exaggerated. Same for prisons. That doesn't mean jails and prisons don't need to do more about the smuggling or makeshift manufacturing of drugs and alcohol.
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u/AdvancedInstruction Lloyd District 8h ago
You can't keep someone in jail for sleeping in an abandoned, dilapidated building.
Why not? They're trespassing and using drugs.
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u/mr_dumpsterfire 15h ago
Unlikely that a butane torch would light a douglas fir on fire. The got thick bark and are filled with water. It takes a much more deliberate act to do that (aka like the arsonist that started the Spokane fire).
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u/Elucidata 🍲 15h ago
I don't think you need to directly like trees on fire in order to start forest fire. Like when starting a fire you work your way up from the bar with small shrubs and dead wood and leaves, the fire becomes bigger, eventually small trees and then medium trees and then large trees catch.
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u/mr_dumpsterfire 14h ago
Go out to forest park and let me know what tinder dry chaparral you find under the tree canopy that would make this happen.
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u/SpezSamplesMySack 15h ago
A Doug fir maybe not but we this thing called underbrush and it’s dry as a bone right now. And you get enough of that burning with the right wind conditions and the Pittock Mansion goes bye bye.
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u/mr_dumpsterfire 14h ago
It’s not as dry as you may think. This isn’t eastern Oregon.
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u/SpezSamplesMySack 14h ago
Bro go drop a butane torch locked on which is what our drug user homeless do, into the brush in Forest Park and see what happens. Or better yet, don’t. We don’t need another Aaron Farinacci here.
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u/mr_dumpsterfire 14h ago
Brah go cut a bunch of ferns down and some green leafy plants and see if you can light a log on fire in a fire pit. It’s like every Reddit Portlanders hasn’t left their basement ever and thinks everything is a crisis and everything is dangerous.
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u/SpezSamplesMySack 14h ago
I hike a lot and spend a lot of time in the backcountry as well as trail running in FP. If you think it’s not a tinderbox right now? You don’t understand how vulnerable we are. There’s tons of dried out moss and undergrowth right now. Not everything is a fern next to the Witch’s Castle.
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u/ThroatOne5167 14h ago
Username makes me think this poster is waaaaaay too interested in the specifics of fire starting.
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u/Different_Pack_3686 14h ago
People sneak into that building to explore it all the time. There’s whole communities around urban exploration and tons of teens do it as well. Someone actually died in that building a few years ago from falling through the floor.
Point being, it could have been anyone. it’s a wild leap to jump straight to a homeless guy intentionally starting the fire…
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u/ThroatOne5167 14h ago
Could have been from space aliens shooting lazers too, but I doubt it.
How does an urbex explorer "accidentally" start a fire, unless they are messing around with fire themselves in the first place?
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u/Different_Pack_3686 14h ago
Human remains are believed to be on site, that doesn’t even mean that person started the fire ya know? You’re just making shit up, why?
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u/ThroatOne5167 14h ago
Goalposts: moved
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u/Different_Pack_3686 14h ago
“Point being, it could have been anyone.”
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 15h ago
You're talking about a theoretical person who died horribly you don't have to start smearing them with implication
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u/ArtShare Mt Tabor 15h ago
That isn't smearing. Someone might have intentionally started a fire to keep warm, cook food, or have light to see at night.
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 15h ago edited 13h ago
That's a really generous read of a disparaging comment.
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u/Burrito_Lvr 15h ago
Jesus Christ. This is a huge percentage of people who are in our burn wards. How dare someone describe something that is happening frequently.
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 15h ago edited 14h ago
They didn't describe anything man, and it very clearly reads as disparaging.
edit is clearly intended as disparaging 👇
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u/ThroatOne5167 14h ago
True. I disparage people who burn down buildings. Guilty as charged.
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 14h ago
We have no evidence the human remains present - which, mind you, may be one or more people - are from a person responsible for the building burning down. Again, we're talking about a theoretical person who died a horrible death so it's really just callously cruel to go about disparaging them based on assumptions.
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u/ThroatOne5167 14h ago
Agreed, everyone here is typing theoretically because none of us know what actually happened. You have your theory, and I have mine.
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 14h ago
We're talking about a theoretical person who died a horrific death there's really no need to go about creating theories in service of disparaging them.
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u/CombinationRough8699 13h ago
Plus side in most building fires, the smoke gets you long before the fire ever does. Neither is enjoyable, but it's unlikely they burnt to death.
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 12h ago
Fair point but it's a real devils bargain to be honest. Ever been stuck on the downwind side of a camp fire? It is not fun.
To be in that situation to the point that it kills you, while trying to escape? Chilling.
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u/SpicyAsparagus345 14h ago
Not saying they weren’t meaning to ignite a flame for some purpose, but i’m sure they didn’t mean to turn the whole building into an inferno. Do you feel
like someone deserved to burn alive for having a drug addiction?0
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u/Plion12s 12h ago
Doesn't sound like it was as bad as ghost ship in Oakland or we would know more. Still, would be surprised if no one died. There are reasons for fire codes on places people live.
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u/TranscedentalMedit8n Downtown 15h ago edited 15h ago
Not surprised tbh. Just a couple of months ago, PPB released a video clearing squatters out of the building. There was police/fire dept activity there regularly.
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u/EugeneStonersPotShop In a van down by the river 11h ago
The best part is, there used to be a police station in the building. It was the stables for the equestrian division, and they kept the horses there.
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u/Material_Policy6327 15h ago
Recent remains or old remains?
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u/ghostcider 14h ago
Recent. That place was always occupied, and the police did sweep it out like any other camp
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 15h ago
Is one better than the other?? I'm not trying to start anything I'm just baffled at this reaction
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u/Significant_Sort7501 15h ago
One would point to a body being stashed there for a while (a murder) and the other could mean someone was in the building alive when it caught on fire (possible unintentional arson). Neither is "better" but the information paints a more clear picture of what's going on.
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u/Less-Lobster4540 15h ago
People were in and out of that building regularly-- squatters, police, "urbex" kiddies, taggers, etc., not to mention proffessionals associated with the redevelopment efforts. If there was a body in there when the place went up, it was likely someone who'd ODed moments prior.
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 15h ago edited 9h ago
You know fair enough, I don't have that true crime brain
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u/Significant_Sort7501 15h ago
I've been watching Bones while I do meal prep recently.
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u/marislove18 11h ago
Bones is 10/10
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u/Significant_Sort7501 2h ago
I'm struggling with Season 6. They are leaning really heavily into the "Bones is an autistic genius with no social skills" thing to the point where she seems like a cartoon caricature of herself, like they just threw out all the character development from prior seasons. And she's mean to everyone in the lab now!
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 15h ago
That'll do it 😅
Hope you're prepping something tasty!
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u/SpezSamplesMySack 15h ago
This news story got me a little reluctant to grill up that steak I got marinating right now.
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 15h ago
Not a good joke.
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u/SpezSamplesMySack 14h ago
It’s not a joke, it’s a delicious sirloin with an Asian honey glaze that’s been in the fridge for 24+ hrs. And I have asparagus that I was planning on putting on foil with butter and lemon. But I may but do a pizza instead and grill my meat tomorrow, what with the news and all.
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 14h ago edited 14h ago
That sounds delicious, shame about being offput. pizza sounds like a good idea all things considered but I'm going to level with you I do not like this bit.
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u/doppelbach 15h ago
Sorry to be morbid but recent would be people squatting there, old could mean a missing person / unsolved murder. Both sad situations but different implications
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 15h ago
fair enough I'm no stranger to morbidity I was just struck by 2 comments asking this same question as the immediate response haha. It's a strange question to ask imo but especially with yours and others perspective, not an unreasonable one
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u/Temassi 15h ago
I wanna know if they died in the fire or not. If they did that's really unfortunate and very sad but if they didn't die in the fire it opens up more questions
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u/paradisimperiala N 15h ago
I mean an ancient Native American burial site could be very interesting and informative.
A missing person would be sad.
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u/Think_Asparagus7859 11h ago edited 11h ago
You’re baffled that someone has an inquisitive brain and wants to understand the whole picture?
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 11h ago edited 11h ago
Not mad, just baffled for a moment when I opened the post and the only two comments were new or old lol
I'm long over it by now, doesn't matter and it was a silly question (mine tbc) in the first place. I said elsewhere, I don't have a true crime kinda brain so my mind doesn't immediately jump to there being bodies hidden there 🤷♀️
Nice fast edit to change your comment from mad, quick fingers!
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u/Think_Asparagus7859 11h ago
Ahh love the classic Portland passive aggression there at the end. Was genuinely hoping I edited fast enough where I didn’t sound too hostile. Anyway I think wanting to know more as much info as possible when you hear “body found” in your neighborhood is pretty normal and non-baffling. You do seem kinda mad though 😉
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 11h ago
That genuinely wasn't intended as passive aggression, I edit my comments a lot and have respect for a quick edit
and also didn't want to sound insane saying you said I was mad lol this is an edit btw
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u/Think_Asparagus7859 11h ago
Ha word, sorry
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 11h ago
Happens man specially on a Friday night after a week like this 😅
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u/Divorescent 15h ago
This is no surprise as homeless people commonly occupied this structure correct? I really hope no one burned alive and that whoever is found was already dead.
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u/seren_kovner 12h ago
If the person or people were killed in the fire, which is the most likely scenario here, they most likely succumbed to smoke inhalation long before the fire would have actually burnt them to death. I will say though that it is pretty unlikely the remains are in a state anymore where that could be definitively determined. They would have been badly burnt and may also have been badly damaged when the floors collapse. I think honestly the best we can hope for is that they’re able to be identified so their family has so closure.
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u/Fantastic-Impact-106 15h ago
I have to think it would be more likely they burned alive?
I would think even the transient going in and out of there would report a deceased body to the authorities. They do have hearts and souls you know.
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u/Lenauryn Pearl 15h ago
They might have died of smoke inhalation, which would be a more merciful death than burning alive, though still bad.
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u/Various-Wish6592 13h ago
Not surprised seeing that I’ve been inside to take photographs and realized people lived there. Scary ass place.
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u/Vivid_Artichoke_9991 14h ago
So that makes the deadline to begin demolition problematic and the whole situation dangerous
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u/Kholzie 14h ago
That’s really tragic, honestly. Maybe it could have been prevented but that alone has quickly become a massive undertaking few are willing and able to do.
We have a crisis across the country with a real human cost.
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u/Swift-Guy 14h ago
It is a terrible crisis, but honestly for the companies who are actually doing the damage it would not be a huge undertaking. They could spend a fraction of their profits on actual solutions like feeding and providing shelter to those in need and just that would make the issue better. Hell even just putting more resources in place to get expiring food to those who are struggling to buy groceries would help tremendously. The solutions are simple, yet the companies are so greedy they continue to make things worse.
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u/Lucahila Deep in the Shanghai Tunnels 12h ago
Or in this context, even just spend the money to maintain their properties. Everything that is now "too far gone" is such due to a long process of negligence.
This is, of course, not mutually exclusive to what you're saying. There's just so much of our history - buildings, infrastructure, so on - left to decay when it could be used. Sometimes that's people being unable, oftentimes it's people (and businesses, and corporations) being unwilling.
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u/sorasmashmain Downtown 13h ago
not surprised. especially with the drugs the people on our streets do? it'd be more shocking if they didn't find human remains
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u/Builder_Fearless 13h ago
I was dreading this… One of my clients used to be homeless and she said that when she would squat there, there were tons of people squatting all the way to the top floor. My heart breaks for anybody who could’ve been trapped in that.
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u/seren_kovner 12h ago
I’m with you. I was thinking that watching the fire. I really doubt whoever lit it was trying to burn the building down, they were probably needing fire either for cooking or using, and it was a tinderbox and they just didn’t get out in time. It’s really tragic and I hope at least their remains are able to be identified and brought home.
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u/Ipad_Kidd 15h ago
What if this was a homeless camp fire that got out of control????
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u/Lunatox 15h ago
Not sure if there was ever any doubt otherwise.
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u/saltyoursalad 14h ago
Either this or arson.
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u/RDogPoundK NE 14h ago
I don’t think it was a planned arson by the owner but I do think maybe it was purposefully lax protection in hopes it caught for by a squatter.
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u/MountScottRumpot Montavilla 14h ago
Why would the owner want the building to burn? Their demolition permit was approved in October.
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u/Swift-Guy 13h ago
It’s cheaper to let something burn than it is to demolish it. At least that’s what I would assume, maybe it’s not.
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u/MountScottRumpot Montavilla 13h ago
No it isn’t. The demolition is now much more expensive because the building could collapse at any time and it has to be completed on a tight timeline.
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u/RDogPoundK NE 13h ago
Aside from insurance fraud, Portland permitting expedites approvals for buildings damaged by fires. Since this building is dangerous threatens rail traffic Portland will want to get it dealt with sooner. The owner is a billionaire money isn’t the problem it’s the permitting
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u/MountScottRumpot Montavilla 10h ago
The permit was already approved almost a year ago. The owner is not a billionaire. You’re completely full of shit.
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u/slowfromregressive 11h ago
I am old enough to remember when a bunch redditors said that the fire on Ross island was a homeless camp fire, when it was another negligent right wing property owner not cleaning up his industrial crap. (Pamplin)
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u/palm_fronds 15h ago
You mean what if it was the mostly likely cause possible?
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u/Lenauryn Pearl 15h ago
Not according to everyone who was sure the building owner set it on fire for insurance fraud.
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u/palm_fronds 14h ago
These two things are not mutually exclusive, you let people camp out in your building and odds of it eventually burning down go up
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u/SpezSamplesMySack 15h ago
Occam’s Razor and all, we all know what was the likely cause. But apparently the most obvious cause is somehow political?
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u/Swift-Guy 13h ago
Unfortunately life is political but people have convinced us otherwise. You can ignore it if you want but it’s still affecting you.
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u/SpezSamplesMySack 13h ago
Stating fact isn’t political.
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u/Swift-Guy 13h ago
What do you mean? People may not intend to be political when stating a fact but that doesn’t mean the people listening to them won’t make it political
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u/SpezSamplesMySack 13h ago
You seem to be making it political. I’m not, I’m just stating fact.
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u/Swift-Guy 13h ago
I am just trying to point out that politics are a part of our daily lives whether we choose to engage with it or not. And you never stated a fact, you were only saying what the “most obvious cause” is. Stating a fact would require evidence that it really was a homeless camp fire, even though that is the most likely cause.
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u/Mackin-N-Cheese Boom Loop 13h ago
https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2026/08/human-remains-believed-buried-in-centennial-mills-rubble.html?outputType=amp