





Story by Noelle Crombie

Photography by Beth Nakamura

Video by Dave Killen

THE OREGONIAN | OREGONLIVE

PART 3 OF 5





R achanda Pickle’s stepfather could turn angry in a flash.

Once, when a clock fell off a shelf, he beat her with a homemade paddle. When it snapped, he smacked her repeatedly with his open hand. At other times, friends saw her with a black eye and a wound from where he’d ripped out a patch of her hair.

She was 13.

The family lived at the state highway division compound at Santiam Junction, where U.S. 20 and Oregon 22 meet. Stockpiles of cinder rock towered near the buildings inside the complex. Plows stood ready to rumble onto the mountain pass during winter storms. It was a 30-minute drive to the nearest store for milk.

A dozen or so work crews called the junction home. Few kids lived there and the ones who did weren’t Rachanda’s age.

In 1990, Rachanda Pickle lived with her mother, brother and stepfather, John Ackroyd. Rachanda stuck close to her mother and rarely strayed from the family home at Santiam Junction. In 1990, Rachanda Pickle lived with her mother, brother and stepfather, John Ackroyd. Rachanda stuck close to her mother and rarely strayed from the family home at Santiam Junction.

John Ackroyd had an unusual arrangement with Rachanda’s mother, Linda. The couple married in the mid-1980s but divorced after a year. They continued to live together, though, raising Linda's two kids, Rachanda and her older brother, Byron.

Rachanda was a good kid, helping around the house and taking care not to stray far. She rode her bike in the lane just outside the door and took a bus to grade school in Sweet Home. She listened to pop stars Debbie Gibson and Wilson Phillips in her bedroom and teased her brother, who was her protector and playground companion.

Her family called her Channy.

To some, she seemed lost, almost invisible. When parent conferences rolled around, no one showed up.

Linda Ackroyd and her young children moved around Springfield and Sweet Home before she settled down with Ackroyd in the 1980s. Linda Ackroyd and her young children moved around Springfield and Sweet Home before she settled down with Ackroyd in the 1980s.

In fifth grade, something shifted. She seemed withdrawn and tired. In class, she counted down the minutes, a sense of dread rising as the end of the school day approached.

She confided in two girls who were sisters. She cried as she told one of them that she was terrified of returning to the junction alone. She asked if she could sleep over. One time, she made a scene when it was time to go. Another time, they snuck her into their bedroom closet.

The sisters knew why she was afraid.

Ackroyd was molesting Rachanda.