When three women were discovered dead in wooded Forest Park in Portland, Oregon, in less than one month, police wasted no time forming a task force that would soon corner the women's murderer. Lilla Moler, 28, was the first to be found on May 7, 1999, followed the next day by Stephanie Russell, 26, who's body was located only 80 yeards from where Moler was found. The third grisly discovery was the corpse of Tomorrow Ison, 17, found on June 2. All three women were prostitutes and drug addicts, were found nude and strangled, and bore a striking resemblance to one another.

The Forest Park Task Force went proactive, sending out an undercover officer who fit the killer's physical preferences and on July 7 began to focus on Todd Alan Reed, a convicted sex offender who had been in prison for three years following a 1992 sexual assault during which he attempted to strangle a prostitute. After Reed approached the undercover officer police began surveillance and obtained a DNA sample saved from the 1992 assault. It matched samples found at the Moler and Russell dumpsites and Reed was quickly arrested and charged with both murders plus the slaying of Ison as well.