Portland Police Say Murder and Suicide May Be Linked

Portland Police are investigating possible connections between a murder victim found Saturday night at the Liberty Center and a suicide hours earlier about one mile away.

Police identified the murder victim as 36-year-old Mitra Mehrabadi of Lake Oswego. She had been shot multiple times.

Portland Police homicide detectives discovered her when they were called to Liberty Center at 650 Northeast Holladay Street at 7:41 Saturday night after receiving a call that a person had been found dead in the building.

Police now believe her murder may be connected to a suicide earlier in the day.

Just after 10:00 Saturday morning, officers from the North Precinct were called the Lloyd Corporate Plaza on the 800 block of Northeast 19th Avenue because of a suspicious person with a gun sitting in a black sedan.

As officers arrived, they heard a gunshot from within the car. Officers, using a ballistics shield, approached the car, and discovered the driver had shot himself. He died soon after.

Police say he was 51-year-old Jimmy Allen Morgan of Gresham.

Both Morgan and Mehrabadi worked for Liberty Mutal Insurance, which has its office at Liberty Center.

Detectives are continuing to investigate the connection between Morgan and Mehrabadi and would like to hear from anyone with information that might assist in the investigation. They are going through surveillance tape as well as interviewing people who know the two.

Family, friends, and associates of the two have painted a picture of two co-workers whose families were close. Both were married and each couple has a child.

Given the chain of events, Liberty Mutual closed their Portland office on Monday.

"Our heartfelt thoughts go out to the families and friends of those deceased and to our employees who worked closely with them in our Portland, Oregon office," they said in a statement. "In the wake of this tragic event we have decided to close the Portland office today.

"We will have on-site employee assistance resources in Portland tomorrow and have established an 800# available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for any employee who may wish to receive support."

Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact Detective Michele Michaels at 503-823-0692, michele.michaels@portlandoregon.gov; or, Detective Bryan Steed at 503-823-0395, bryan.steed@portlandoregon.gov.

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