Woman in NoCal Pot Deal Found Dead
Hikers find body at base of highest Ore. bridge after naming suspect in case.
July 25, 2008— -- A woman who went missing more than a week ago after she made a drug deal in Northern California was found dead at the base of the highest bridge in Oregon Wednesday night, police said.
Three hikers found the body of 23-year-old Michelle Ashlee Dickson and contacted authorities around 8 p.m. Her identity was confirmed Thursday.
"The identity of the deceased female found Wednesday at the base of Thomas Creek Bridge on Highway 101 between Brookings and Gold Beach has been positively identified as a missing woman from Del Norte County, Calif.," said a Thursday afternoon press release from the Oregon State Police. "The investigation is being treated as a homicide."
An autopsy will be performed by the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office to determine how Dickson died. Authorities in Oregon will work with the Del Norte County Sheriff's Office in a joint homicide investigation.
Dickson's body was found at the base of the Thomas Creek Bridge, a 345-foot-high span above a deep ravine along the Oregon coastline. It is the highest bridge in Oregon, according to state officials.
The bridge is roughly 40 miles from Crescent City, Calif., where Dickson's car was discovered the morning of July 16 engulfed in flames. She was last seen the night before when she met her 27-year-old "friend" Josiah Miller, of Arcata, Calif., in Crescent City to sell him three ounces of marijuana.
Miller was officially named a suspect in Dickson's disappearance Wednesday.
By his own admission, Miller was among the last people to see Dickson. He has told police that he met her about 10:30 p.m. on July 15 on U.S. Highway 101 to buy drugs from her, Det. Sgt. Steve Morris, a spokesman for the Del Norte County Sheriff's Office, told ABCNews.com.
Dickson's 2003 hatchback Honda Civic was found about 8 a.m. the next day engulfed in flames in a turnout area in Crescent City, a coastal community tucked into Northern California's redwood forests about 25 miles south of the Oregon border. The vehicle was about 40 yards off the highway on the ocean side, Morris said.
