Skip to main contentSaturday morning, my phone in Longmont, Colo., rang with the news of a break in the case.
My mom told me Portland police had made an arrest. I sighed a huge breath and thanked God.
Kate Johnson and I had a lot in common.
We attended the University of Portland, we lived in the all-female Mehling Hall, and, though I didn't know her, our circle of friends overlapped. And, from what I knew of her, she shared the optimism and spark so common at the private Catholic school in North Portland.
Johnson was murdered in her Mehling dorm the same month I graduated (see "The Murder at Mehling Hall," WW, May 1, 2002).
The school, with 2,900 students, often felt like an extended family, and Johnson's death was both terrifying and sad.
When the Portland police investigation turned cold, I created theories of what happened. Theories that made her death less scary. Theories about a deranged stranger who must have broken into her dorm room and raped and strangled her.
I prayed that she didn't suffer.
I asked my mom what she knew.
"It was some guy named...," she paused to guess at the pronunciation, "...Denise?"
My heart froze.
"Oh, my God," I replied. "I know him."
It seems that one of our shared friends was Deniz Aydiner, a Turkish citizen who studied at the University of Portland. When I was a freshman in Mehling Hall, Deniz lived in Villa, the boys' dorm next door. He was a "Villain."
I remember Deniz as outgoing, thoughtful and quick to laugh. At an age when so many guys seemed friendly for obvious motives, Deniz came across as gentle and innocent. My group of girlfriends hung out with him often, making sure he was invited to parties.
I saw him off-and-on for the next four years, though I didn't know his last name until I saw it printed next to his mug shot on The Oregonian's website Saturday.
I liked him, trusted him. I remember riding in his lap in a jam-packed car on a 3 am Taco Bell run and remember feeling safe with him.
I realize that Deniz is only a suspect. But as a crime reporter I know that the type of DNA evidence they have linking him to Kate's death is rarely wrong. It is hard for me--for so many of us--to believe that we may know a murderer.
A year ago, a young man in northern Colorado posed as a police officer, pulled over a college student and kidnapped her. He then raped and killed the girl before dumping her body alongside a road. Even after he pleaded guilty, his friends refused to believe he could do such a thing.
I thought, "How could they not know?"
My friends and I are starting the journey to understanding the answer to that question.
Some of us are shocked; others refuse to believe.
As we sort out the news, we pray for Kate and her family. We also pray for Deniz.
WW
Greeley Tribune.
WWeek 2015