LOCATED SAFE 1/1/2024: 

I started Savagewatch twenty years ago as a website about solving cold cases in Connecticut.  I had no experience of having anyone I know go missing or be a victim of a serious unsolved crime at the time.  In the years since, I would learn of a missing nephew (Harmon Shea) of a family friend who went missing.  An unidentified man found in a river in Massachusetts (I looked at a photo of his tattoo when he was an unidentified deceased person) but did not realize that I had met the person in question several times prior to his drowning.  I had no idea that the man was missing until good police work revealed who he was.  

But now, there is an active missing person case in Oregon of a person who I have known since he was a young child.  His parents and my parents are friends.  His older brother I still talk to and he currently works in Law Enforcement  But since February of 2020, no one has seen 44 year old Dave Merkelson.  

Dave had struggled at times during his life with mental health issues .  He moved to Israel and wandered the desert there only to be taken in by members of a Bedouin Tribe.  Dave would soon find purpose out in Israel by joining the military.  After serving his time which did involve being in armed combat, he took up martial arts.  He competed professionally in a few matches as well as partaking in amateur tournaments in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Dave would get married and open up his own Mixed MArtial Arts school (his name is also spelled Markleson).  Years later, looking for other opportunities, he would move to the United States.  Things would not progress for him there as job opportunities didn’t pan out and his wife and him broke up.  

Life would eventually find him in a motel in Beaverton, Oregon.  Struggling with anxiety, he would leave his car behind with his wallet, phone and personal identification inside.  It is possible that Dave could be living off the grid.  He had done that before while in Israel and has the life skills to do that which he learned in the Israeli Military.  

Dave if you read this, please contact your parents or brother and let them know where you are.  You can also contact this website.   

David considers himself a primate in that he thinks people should live in a hunter and gather society. He is upset with the damage that Climate Change has done. He is non-religious. 

If you have any information about the whereabouts of Dave Merkelson contact the Beaverton Police Department at (503) 526-2260.

Dave competing in an MMA Fight  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkXpZriUoC0&list=LL&index=3&t=168s

Dave at his wedding with his wife dancing to “Time of My LIfe” hit song

Always look at the last few letters of the sender email’s address. This webpage linked below will tell you what country the sender (scammer) may be from…. Be alert and be careful. Have questions? Call Law Enforcement or research it on the internet. http://theemailfinder.com/emailcountrycodes.html

It may have been self defense against a gangster threatening a star athlete, his family and businesses. But did former Superbowl winner Marvin Harrison have something to do with the homicide of a man harassing him or did someone else in the neighborhood commit the murder.

For decades the Golden State Killer did not have a name. Now we know who he is. Former police officer/military man Joseph D’Angelo. Here is his prison mugshot.

Case submitted and narrated by Jessica Borreson (Daughter of Theresa)

Theresa Ann Davidson-Murphy was born in California (USA) on 5/15/65. She would go missing on (October 7th, 1999) in Rainier, Oregon (USA) after my mom and I moved from Washington . She left her job house everything to live where Richard wanted to. Well I had just turned 13 years old and my mom took me to Richard’s (her husband) cousin’s house so his daughter and I could go to Washington to play volleyball. That was Thursday, my mom said she would be back on Tuesday to pick me up…she never showed up i last spoke to my mother that Saturday when I called the house and she said everything was fine. Richard said he was up north camping .. I called the house over and over trying to get a hold of my mom..no answer the following week on Sunday Richard answered the phone said he would be over to get me he didn’t know where my mom was.. He still didn’t come until the next day.. He owned a construction and pest control business and if you have ever seen one you know there vans aren’t clean well. When he showed up his can was spotless clean, only a green rain coat. He automatically started to bad mouth my mom saying she used drugs. My mom is not the type to up and just leave .. When Richard and I pulled up in the driveway at our house, my mom’s truck was there and all the camping stuff was still at the bottom back of the storage shed.. He told me he contacted hospitals, police and everyone to try to find my mom. He told me I could go love with my dad or he could pay $5000 for me to stay with him… He wouldn’t let me take any of my mothers stuff. His words were. If she comes back she will need it..

He refuses a polygraph, he has a new girlfriend a month later. He is no help neither, are the detectives.

Written by Reddit user Exiemack.

Their friend Ben Jernigan was murdered in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2016 in a still unsolved murder. The loss of him still burns for his family and friends.

Who killed my friend Ben?
byu/exiemack inUnresolvedMysteries

It was on November 30th, 2010, when 64 year old Sherry Black was found stabbed to death inside her bookstore, B&W Billiards and Books at 3466 S. 700 East in Salt Lake City Utah. Nearly a decade later, an arrest with the help of DNA and good old fashioned police work has caught her killer. Twenty Nine year old Adam Duborow. Good job Law Enforcement.

https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/10/10/21510921/news-cold-case-police-make-arrest-in-decade-old-sherry-black-murder-case-salt-lake

It was early Sunday morning on May 27th, 2018 when 21 year old Sofia Mckenna and her friend Spencer Mugford (age 20) disappeared off the coast of Connecticut, near Avery Point in the town of Groton. That morning Sofia’s mother received several missed phone calls from Spencer’s phone number but she was asleep and unable to answer them. Spencer did not know Sofia’s mother’s phone number and Sofia’s phone was in her car parked at the UCONN Avery Point Campus. No calls were made to 911 from Spencer’s phone. It is believed that the two friends either took a kayak, sailboat or paddleboard out to Ledge Light. A picture posted on Spencer’s snapchat revealed they may have reached the Ledge Light Landmark in the Sound. Spencer’s body would later be found on Friday, June 8th. Autopsy revealed that he had drowned. However, Sofia remains missing and family and friends believe that she may have been kidnapped or murdered. Most of all they want answers To learn more about this case visit the facebook page dedicated to finding her.

It was a brutal, rape, torture murder of a beautiful 17 year old woman named Carla Walker in Forth Worth, Texas in 1974. More than 45 years later, a monster named Glen Samuel McCurley was arrested for her brutal slaying. https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/fort-worth-pd-announces-arrest-in-1974-cold-case-murder-of-carla-walker/2448016/

Frances St. John Smith was born in 1909 to wealthy parents in New York City, New York. Her parents, St. John Smith and Florence Howland, were descended from families who sailed to the United States on the Mayflower and are very well-established names on the East Coast. Her parents had high hopes for Frances and her brother, St. John Smith, though only the latter would go on to achieve them. By 1928, Frances was missing and presumed dead.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueCrime/comments/iwiqkn/frances_st_john_smith_vanished_from_her_dorm_room/