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SALEM, Ore.— An arrest warrant was issued yesterday for a reserve sheriff’s deputy accused of killing an eastern Oregon bartender, who moved there from Hawaii.
Steven Montie Crum, 29, of Morrow County, was last seen Wednesday in a red or maroon flatbed Dodge pickup truck from the 1990s. The attorney general’s office said Crum may be headed north, may be armed and may be carrying law enforcement identification.
The body of Jessica Rae Killian, a 30-year-old mother of one, was found Monday in a farm field near Ione, about 20 miles south of the Columbia River. Law enforcement officials have given few details in the case, but Killian’s sister told the East Oregonian newspaper that Killian was shot.
"My sister was murdered," Marcy Ferner, 29, of Pendleton, said Wednesday. "She was shot and left in the field."
Ferner said her sister moved to eastern Oregon from Hawaii a few years ago. Since 2008, she tended bar at the Pheasant Cafe & Lounge in Hermiston.
The last time her family heard from her was Saturday morning, when the Pheasant Cafe & Lounge reported a theft of more than $1,000.
Hermiston police were investigating, but the department would not confirm or deny that it was related to Killian’s death, the East Oregonian said.
Ferner said Killian’s 8-year-old daughter remains in Hawaii, and the family doesn’t have enough money to fly her to Portland. Ferner said the family will try to set up a fund at a bank to raise donations for a plane ticket.
"Our family is devastated," Ferner said.
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Information from: East Oregonian, http://www.eastoregonian.info
