PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) -
A woman was brutally murdered and her body was dumped in a north Portland park, and investigators said a mystery man, who called himself "21," may hold the key to solving the case.
"My sister is still right here, she was a part of me, I'm a part of her," said Crystal Hammick, the victim's sister.
Nearly 20 years later, the burden of her sister's death is still palpable for Hammick. On June 15, 1993, cold case police investigators said a little boy walking home from school near the pedestrian overpass at north Going and Concord noticed what looked like a human leg.
Investigators said it was the body of 29-year-old Lawauna Triplet; her body partially hidden in the bushes. Police said she died of abdominal injuries.
"This is a particularly brutal crime, not just the way she was killed, but the way she was disposed of, she was treated like a piece of meat," said retired homicide detective Larry Findling, who recently reviewed the Triplet case.
"When she did get murdered, I felt it. I got sick instantly, body went cold. When she was being beaten, I was being beaten in my stomach," Hammick said.
Triplet was last seen alive, police said, walking west on northeast Alberta street about 1:30 a.m. They said she was a cocaine addict, who worked as a prostitute to feed her habit.
Shortly after the crime, detectives said they received a mysterious phone call from a man with a tip they say had "the ring of truth."
"This person identified himself as "21" and said they would call back, they have never called back," Findling said.
If you have any information about the case, call Portland police cold case detectives.
Copyright KPTV, 2012. All rights reserved.
