Gail Snelling

Gail Snelling was a 27-year-old woman living in Portland, Oregon, in the late summer of 1969. She was part of a family that included her mother, 71-year-old Margaret Rosenberry, and her own five-year-old son. Their lives were irrevocably shattered by a man who was known to their family.

On the night of September 1st, or in the early hours of September 2nd, 1969, Douglas Franklin Wright broke into the Portland home shared by Gail and her mother. Armed with a pistol, Wright brutally murdered both women. He shot Gail twice in the head and shot her mother three times. After committing the murders, Wright did not leave. Instead, he abducted Gail's young son from the home, compounding the horror of his crimes. The bodies of Gail and Margaret were discovered on the afternoon of September 4th, launching a homicide investigation and a desperate search for the missing child.

The investigation quickly identified Douglas Wright as the primary suspect. A manhunt ensued, lasting for over a month as Wright evaded capture. During this time, he took the five-year-old boy to several motels in the area and sexually assaulted him before eventually letting him go. The search for Wright led police to the home of an acquaintance, Richard Sheldon Clifford, on September 5th. When detectives questioned Clifford about whether he had seen Wright and the boy, Clifford lied, denying any contact. This lie would lead to his own conviction as an accessory after the fact for attempting to help a felon avoid apprehension.

Wright's time as a fugitive ended after he shot a man at a billiards hall in Banks, Oregon, leading to his capture. He was charged with the murders of Gail Snelling and Margaret Rosenberry. When asked for a motive, Wright reportedly stated that he had always wanted a son of his own. He was found guilty and sentenced to 35 years in prison for the two murders.

Despite the brutality of his crimes, Wright was considered a model prisoner and was paroled in 1982. His freedom was short-lived and marked by further violence. In October 1991, he murdered three homeless men—Anthony Arthur Barker, William Clement Marks, and William Ray Davis—on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Wasco County after luring them with false promises of work. He was convicted of these murders on June 25, 1993, and subsequently sentenced to death on October 11, 1993.

The case of Gail Snelling’s murder reached its final conclusion decades after it began. Douglas Franklin Wright was executed by lethal injection on September 6, 1996. He was the first person to be executed in the state of Oregon since 1962. While Wright was convicted of five murders, he was linked to at least seven and hinted at others before his death. The primary suspect in the murder of Gail Snelling is now deceased, and the case is considered solved.