First murder in Oroville limits in nearly 40 years

OROVILLE – A 14-year-old Oroville boy allegedly shot and killed his father outside the family home on Emry Road on Tuesday, March 12.

Oroville Police Chief Todd Hill said, “An Oroville teenager has been booked into Okanogan County Jail for allegedly shooting and killing his father on Tuesday afternoon.”

The juvenile left the scene and went to a restaurant where his mother worked and the mother informed her boss who contacted the Oroville Police Department, according to Hill.

“We immediately went to the house and confirmed he was down and that Terry Shaw was deceased,” said Hill. “We then waited for more units so we could tactically assess the situation and the victim.”

“We located the suspect by the Oroville Library and there was no trouble in making the arrest with assistance from the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office and the United State Border Patrol,” said Hill.

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“The suspect was booked on charges of second degree murder as well as being a juvenile in possession of a firearm.” said Chief Hill. “The prosecutor fought to change the murder charge to first degree and that’s now what the suspect is what he is charged with.”

Hill said his department is doing the investigation into the death, but called in the Washington State Patrol’s Crime Scene Unit to help gather evidence at the scene.

“Since it was late and getting dark we stood guard at the scene overnight and the Crime Scene Unit who got there at 9 a.m. with fresh eyes and fresh bodies and proceed in daylight,” said Chief Hill on Friday, March 15, adding, “Dr. Adams, a Medical Examiner performed an autopsy on the victim in Wenatchee on Thursday which I attended.”

Hill said as of last week no witnesses to the incident had been uncovered as of yet and that no one had reported a gunshot.

“We are still in the investigative phase and a lot of information will have to be collected, it is very critical. The WSP collected evidence and they will get their report together and give it to us. We will also be receiving copies of the coroner’s report, as well as the autopsy report report,” said Hill.

While the suspect was not attending classes at Oroville High School, during the search for the shooter the Oroville School District put its buildings on lockdown.

Bail has been set at $250,000.

Last murder in Oroville in 1981

OROVILLE – While this latest shooting also took place within the boundaries of the city limits, that’s only because the city has extended north over the last decade. The most recent murder to have taken place in Oroville was nearly 40 years ago in 1981.

Michael “Indian Mike” McColl, 33, a part Apache, was sitting at the dinner table with his girlfriend and three children when someone crept up to the window and fired a sawed-off shotgun into the kitchen killing him.

Daniel Ostenburg, a longtime acquaintance of McColl’s then girlfriend was later arrested for the crime and charged with first-degree murder. However, then Okanogan County Superior Court Judge Jim Thomas dismissed the charges because a roll of film shot at the crime scene by the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Department did not turn out. The film was said to have been taken of footprint’s outside McColl’s window. Authorities believed these footprints would have matched shoes worn by Ostenburg.

Ostenburg had lived with the woman and her family for much of the previous three years until she had left her husband and later moved in with McColl. Police and the Okanogan County Prosecutor’s office said Ostenburg was the shooter and believed his motive was jealousy.

In making his decision to dismiss, Judge Thomas relied on a case in Seattle in 1974 where a woman was killed and the suspect was let go because evidence had been discarded by the Seattle police.

Thomas said at the time that he knew someone had taken a shotgun to McColl and whoever did it was “walking around scott free.”

Ostenburg moved out of the area and to the west side of the state. To this day the case of who killed “Indian Mike” remains unresolved.