July 23, 2022 2:30 p.m.
On Friday, the Oregon State Medical Examiners Office confirmed that the deceased female found in Cow Creek on July 13th is 18-year old Kendra Hanks of Winston.
The report said that “a penetrating wound to the neck” ultimately caused her death. The victim had two other puncture wounds – one to her chest and one on the neck.
A court document released Friday from the Douglas County Circuit Court provides details and a timeline for events after the victim was allegedly picked up by 39-year old Troy Phelps, while walking home from work on July 7th.
The News Review is reporting that Phelps was ordered held without bail during a closed-circuit video hearing Friday. He was arraigned on charges of first and second- degree murder, second-degree kidnapping, and resisting arrest.
Through the use of video surveillance footage from a number of locations, detectives traced the victim’s path after leaving her job at Ingram Book Company and walking towards Winston starting at approximately 3:30 p.m. Hanks was last seen heading south near B&D Meats on Old Highway 99S. The document said it appears the victim got into the suspect’s vehicle, a Saturn Outlook, between there and the nearby green steel bridge, at around 4:15 p.m. Cameras had showed the SUV in that area earlier. A female was seen in the passenger side of that vehicle in a subsequent camera shot.
Just after 4:30 p.m. the vehicle was observed exiting Interstate 5 southbound at the Tri-City exit 103. A short time later the vehicle was captured via video on Riddle Bypass Road. Hank’s cellphone contacted the cellular telephone tower in that area at about the same time, corroborating that the victim was still inside that vehicle.
The document said that nearly an hour later the SUV was observed heading out of Riddle where Fifth Avenue becomes Pruner Road. This is less than a mile from Phelps’ residence. It is unclear when Hanks was no longer in the vehicle.
Through further investigation, detectives found evidence that the vehicle in question had been observed on multiple occasions, being driven by a man matching the description of Phelps.
Eight days after Hank’s body was found, a search warrant was executed in the 1500 block of Pruner Road, where Phelps was eventually taken into custody by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, after allegedly resisting. The suspect requested an attorney and was eventually taken to the Douglas County Jail.
In 2020, Phelps was acquitted of a murder charge related to the death of Brandon Michael at Lawson Bar in 2017. He served prison time for other charges in that case.