Skip to main contentThe Multnomah County Medical Examiner's office says it will amend the death certificate today of the 38-year-old Olympia man who died Oct. 14 after an incident on the Burnside Bridge. Cougar Burleigh's death will now be ruled a homicide, and police detectives are now pursuing a homicide investigation.
The developments mark a significant reversal from just a few weeks earlier when police declined to open a criminal investigation and the county medical examiner ruled Burleigh's death "undetermined," believing Burleigh's head injury was consistent with a fall.
Friends and family did not believe that conclusion and urged police to do more. When Burleigh was found unconscious on the Burnside Bridge on Oct. 12 he was missing his pants, wallet and I.D. He was also intoxicated, but he had planned to walk to the home of Portland friends he was visiting after a night of barhopping.
"We knew it was a homicide from Day 1," Nancy Shadley, Burleigh's stepmother, tells WW.
The reversal follows police detectives' disclosure this week of new information in the case, including witnesses who told police that Burleigh "was involved in a confrontation and subsequently fell to the ground." Police, however, do not have a description of the possible attacker or attackers.
Sgt. Pete Simpson, a police spokesman, says there are no gaps in the case, despite the initial belief that Burleigh—a Washington state employee—had been the victim of a fall.
Family and friends say they were told that first responders thought Burleigh was homeless when they found him on the bridge without I.D. "That did not sit well with us," Shadley, Burleigh's stepmother, says.
Anyone with information about the case can call Det. Anthony Merrill, Portland Police Bureau, (503) 823-4033 and anthony.merrill@portlandoregon.gov.
WWeek 2015