Dayton Leroy Rogers aka The Molalla Forest Murderer spotlighted on The Woman in the Woods on ID

The Woman in the Woods on ID is examining the case of serial killer Dayton Leroy Rogers, otherwise known as the Molalla Forest Murderer, because he disposed of the bodies of seven women in the forest south of Portland, Oregon.

Rogers was eventually convicted for the first-degree murder of seven women and is suspected of killing an eighth. The killer mostly picked up the women from Portland, where he preyed on sex workers, drug addicts, and runaways.

In the early hours of August 7, 1987, Rogers picked up sex worker 25-year-old Jennifer Smith and drove her to the parking lot of a Denny’s restaurant. In Rogers’s pickup truck, he had Smith strip naked before he tied her up and began stabbing her.

Smith’s screams attracted members of the public who approached the truck. Rogers initially ran away before returning to his truck and driving off in front of multiple witnesses. Smith bled to death from the stab wounds.

A witness had recorded the pickup’s license plate, which led to Rogers’s arrest. The police were still processing the case when a hunter made a horrific discovery in the Molalla Forest.

Discovery of bodies revealed Dayton Leroy Rogers to be a serial killer

On August 31, 1987, the hunter stumbled upon the decomposing remains of a woman underneath some matted ferns. Over the next few days, the police recovered the bodies of six more women.

The women had all suffered stab wounds, and the coroner stated it was possible they had also been strangled. Many of the women had been mutilated; Rogers sawed off a foot on many of his victims.

In the same area, investigators found multiple bottles of vodka and orange juice and items of women’s clothing and rope.

The police were able to identify six of the seven bodies: Cynthia “Dee Dee” Diane DeVore, 21; Maureen Ann Hodges, 26; Reatha Marie Gyles, 16; Nondace “Noni” Kae Cervantes, 26; Lisa Marie Mock, 23; and Christine Lotus Adams, 35.

A search of Rogers’s truck uncovered blood and DNA from many of these women.

Dayton Leroy Rogers was sentenced to death, later commuted to life

In 1998, Rogers was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Jennifer Smith. The following year, he was convicted on another six counts of murder.

The killer has been re-sentenced multiple times. He is currently serving life without parole and is incarcerated at the Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla, OR.

The Woman in the Woods airs Wednesday at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery.