NICHOLE SHERMAN - 19 yo - Rainier OR

Rainier-area teen missing since Sunday


November 16th at 2:35 PM

RAINIER, Ore. -- A 19-year-old woman has been
missing from her Deer Island, Oregon, home since Sunday and police were
asking for the public's help finding her.

Family members told investigators Nichole Sherman left her home in the 68100 block of Meissner Road at about 4:45 p.m. Sunday.

She was expected to go to a friend's house on Apiary Road, in Rainier, but she never arrived.

Investigators and family members have searched the route between the
two homes, but had found no evidence of Sherman by Wednesday afternoon.
They had also searched in Longview, Washington, where Sherman attends
college classes, with no result.

"This is a highly suspicious disappearance, and we are putting extra
effort into finding out what happened to Ms. Sherman," Columbia County
Sheriff Jeff Dickerson said. "We are hoping someone might have seen her
or her vehicle either in the area of her residence at the time of her
disappearance or later in the Longview area."

Sherman (pictured) was last seen driving a red Chevrolet Cavalier
(similar to the one pictured) with Oregon license plate YCD 562.

Anyone with information was asked to call (503) 366-4698.
http://www.kgw.com/news/local/Rainier-teen-missing-since-Sunday-133991178.html

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2011/11/officials_call_disappearance_o.html

Officials call disappearance of 19-year-old St. Helens woman 'highly suspicious'


Published: Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 3:10 PM Updated: Wednesday, November 16, 2011, 4:53 PM

By Kate Mather, The Oregonian

The Oregonian

Authorities are looking for a 19-year-old St. Helens woman missing
since Sunday, and said today they consider her disappearance "highly
suspicious."

Nichole Sherman left her house at 68160 Meissner Rd.
about 4:45 p.m. to go to a friend's house on Apiary Road, just six
miles away, said Columbia County Sheriff Jeff Dickerson. She never made
it.

Detectives and family members have scoured the area between the two
homes but have found no clues, Dickerson said.

"There's
no indication initially that she drove off the road, but we don't
know," he said. "It's a pretty rural and wooded area, so who knows."

Although
investigators would continue to look around the area, Dickerson said
search-and-rescue crews haven't been called out because "we don't have
an area to search." He hoped for better weather conditions so aerial
searches could begin.

Investigators also looked in
Longview, Wash., where Sherman attends college classes, but haven't had
any luck.

Sherman
doesn't have a history of unusual behavior and there's no indication
from her family that she had any problems, Dickerson said.
Investigators are exploring possible motives, but there are no suspects
so far.

Dickerson stressed that although information about
Sherman's disappearance is still very preliminary, investigators still
considered it "highly suspicious."

"She vanished," he said. "And we don't have a good explanation for why."

Sherman
drives a red 2001 Chevrolet Cavalier with Oregon license plate YCD562.
Authorities ask anyone who has information about Sherman's whereabouts
to call the sheriff's office at 503-366-4698 or dispatch at
503-397-1521.

-- Kate Mather
http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2011/11/officials_call_disappearance_o.html

DEER ISLAND — The dishwasher at Nichole Sherman's house hasn't
been emptied for more than a week — not since the Lower Columbia
College student disappeared.

Sherman was last seen Nov. 13, and Columbia County Sheriff Jeff
Dickerson has labeled the her disappearance as "highly suspicious."
Her family doesn't know what to think or do. But Kim Koon, the
mother of Sherman's fiance, said she won't empty the dishwasher.
Sherman had promised to do that when she returned from visiting a
friend's house, and as far as Koon is concerned the 19-year-old
will still come home to do so.
"It may be stupid, but I'm not emptying it," Koon said Monday
afternoon, her eyes tearing up. "I just can't."
Stunned and bewildered, family members say they can't sleep and
are having trouble keeping track of time. They alternate between
calling Sherman's cell phone, hanging "Missing" posters and asking
hunters and others to be on the lookout for Sherman, who goes by
"Nikki." A single question is running through their heads: "Where is Nikki?"
The whole experience reminds them of the television show
"Without a Trace" about an FBI missing person's team, fiance Eric
White said Monday afternoon - except it's all too real.
"It's like she walked out the door and, ‘Poof' - gone," added
White's mother, Kim Koon. Sherman lives with White and Sherman on
Meissner Road in Deer Island, a rural area south of Rainier. "It's
someone who should have come home, who should be here right now with us. ... It's hell."
"We just keep talking to each other and trying to put one foot
in front of the other," added Jo Boge, Sherman's paternal
grandmother, who raised her since the age of 9.
"And then we pray," Koon added.
Sherman was last seen by Koon about 5 p.m. on Nov. 13 as she
left home to drive to nearby friend's house on Apiary Road. She
never made it there, and the family and police have been unable to
find any trace of Sherman or the car she was driving.
Her family members said Sherman was in a normal, happy mood when
they last spoke to her that weekend, and she had no reason to run
away. She left all her belongings behind except for a purse.
Sherman had emailed Boge her Christmas wish list the day before she
disappeared, another sign the family says Sherman was planning on sticking around.
Boge, of Goble, always talked to Sherman at least every few days
and said Sherman would never leave without letting someone know where she was going.
"This would just be so totally out of character for her to be
out of touch with her family," Boge said. "Even if she's just going
to be late, she calls and lets you know."
When her friend she was supposed to visit called looking for
Sherman the day she vanished, everyone at first thought she'd had
car trouble. Both Koon and Boge both drove the route looking for
the car. As time ticked on, though, they became more worried. They
called police, and by Wednesday Dickerson took the case public,
asking anyone with information to call authorities.
The sheriff's office has received several tips but so far none
has panned out, Dickerson said Friday. Monday, he said there were
no new developments to share but that it remains "an active investigation."
The family said they're trying to let investigators work without
interference. All the members have been interviewed about their own
whereabouts when Sherman disappeared and say they understand that's
a part of the process. Investigators also have searched Sherman's
room and computer and have an open invitation to return to the
house whenever they need to, White said.
"We know the sheriff's office is working hard on this, and we
appreciate all they've done," Koon added.
For now, they need people to keep their eyes open, looking for
Sherman or her car, Koon said.
Sherman is 5 feet, 3 inches tall with a medium/heavy build and
brown hair and brown/hazel eyes. She was last seen wearing dark
jeans and a camouflage hooded sweatshirt. The red, 2001 Chevy
Cavalier has an Oregon plate YCD 562 and has dents in both the
trunk and driver's side door. It's also missing hubcaps and has LCC
parking stickers in the back window.
"Don't just look for the car. Look for the license plate
somewhere, too," Koon said. "Or look for the car with another license plate."
"We just need people to be aware of the whole situation," Koon
said. "And if you see anything, leave it alone and call the police.
If you see her, call the police. That's what we need. ... We need her to come home."

Anyone with any information about Sherman should call the
Columbia County Sheriff's office at 503-366-4611.

Read more: http://tdn.com/news/local/those-close-to-missing-lcc-student-trying-to-stay-positive/article_69662ef2-14b8-11e1-86f4-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1eTRmJ6sH

Still few leads in missing teen case

Nov 30, 2011


Police, family and friends are
searching for Rainier resident Nichole Sherman, 19, who went missing Nov. 13.

The disappearance of a 19-year-old Rainier woman on Nov. 13 has turned up few clues for
police who continue to investigate “hunches.”

Without a body, abandoned car or other clues,
police are scratching their heads to figure out what happened that day
when Nichole Sherman went missing after leaving her home to drive a few
miles down the road to visit a friend. Her friends and family say they
haven’t heard from her since.

There is no indication of foul play at this point, Dickerson said, “other than gut feelings, which we all have.”

“We certainly are treating it as a potential criminal case,” he said. Columbia County Sheriff Jeff Dickerson.
http://www.spotlightnews.net/news/story.php?story_id=132268634472296600

Family of missing LCC student hires search team

The family of a Columbia County woman missing for two weeks has
hired a local search and rescue company to help find her.Nichole "Nikki" Sherman, a Lower Columbia College student who
lives southwest of Rainier, was last seen on Nov. 13. The Columbia
County Sheriff Monday said his office has no new leads."We continue to investigate the disappearance, chasing down
leads and investigating hunches. Our case file is quite extensive
already," Sheriff Jeff Dickerson reported Monday.Sherman was reported missing after she failed to reach a
friend's house on Apiary Road in rural Columbia County. She left
her home in the 6800 block of Meissner Road just before 5 p.m.,
according to Kim Koon, the mother of Sherman's fiance.Sherman lives with Koon's family.Dickerson considers Sherman's disappearance "highly suspicious."
Officials haven't been able to track her through her cellphone,
which has been turned off or run out of power, Dickerson said last
week.Family said Sherman left all her belongings behind and was in a
normal, happy mood when she left, so they don't think she ran away.
Dickerson said officials are pursing the case as if it's a criminal
matter, though he noted it's possible Sherman just left.Sherman's family has plastered the region with posters and
recently hired a professional K-9 searcher. Dickerson has said
investigators don't believe Sherman drove off the road, but family
members say searching those areas couldn't hurt."The Columbia County Sheriff's office has been doing an awesome
job, but we just felt if there were other ways we could help out
that we should do that," Koon said.The family has hired Harry Oakes of the Longview-based
International K-9 Search and Rescue Services to conduct a ground
search through the area Sherman would have traveled. Oakes'
organization is a for-profit group, and a "Find Nichole Sherman
Fund" has been set up at U.S. Bank for donations to cover his costs
and any other search expenses, Koon said.According to his website, Oakes charges $50 per 15 minutes of
searching, and the average search ranges from one to 10 hours. He's
also looking for volunteers to help in the searches. Anyone
interested can email him at: sardogk91@aol.com, Koon said.Koon can be contacted through Facebook as:

Kim Reed Koon.Sherman is 5 feet, 3 inches tall with a medium/heavy build and
brown hair and brown/hazel eyes. She was last seen wearing dark
jeans and a camouflage hooded sweatshirt. Her red, 2001 Chevy
Cavalier has an Oregon plate YCD 562 and has dents in both the
trunk and driver's side door. It's also missing hubcaps and has LCC
parking stickers in the back window.Anyone with information should call the sheriff's tip line at
503-366-4698.Read more: http://tdn.com/news/local/family-of-missing-lcc-student-hires-search-team/article_5d37536a-1a2e-11e1-ba83-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1fNeJ6lvj

RAINIER, Ore. -- The body of a 19-year-old woman missing since
mid-November was found inside her vehicle, which had left the roadway
and crashed, police said.

Nichole Sherman was reported missing November 14. Search crews and
volunteers spent hundreds of hours searching for her in the last month,
according to Columbia County Sheriff Jeff Dickerson.



Saturday her body was recovered after deputies found her car in a gully,
near a roadway they had searched several times.
"Deputies had driven this route on multiple occasions, searching for
indications of an off-road crash," Dickerson said Saturday. "We also
employed the use of private aircraft flying over the area, but were
unsuccessful in our efforts until today.

Investigators said Sherman's car had extensive damage to the
passenger side and she had likely been involved in a high-speed crash.

An Oregon State Police crash reconstructionist was working with the sheriff's office to determine the cause of the crash.

"Our hearts go out to the family members and fiancé of Ms. Sherman,"
Dickerson said. "We express our condolences to them for the loss of
their loved one, and we also want to thank our search and rescue
volunteers for helping close this chapter of the investigation."

The Oregon State Medical Examiner was investigating the official cause of death.
http://www.kgw.com/home/Missing-Rainier-teens-body-found-inside-car-off-of-roadway-135801993.html

RAINIER, Ore. — The Oregon Medical Examiner Office says a missing
woman who was found dead in her car over the weekend died of a blunt
force head injury.

Dr. Christopher Young told the Longview Daily News
(http://bit.ly/uVlnoL) on Monday that Nichole Sherman's death has been
ruled accidental.

Searchers last saw the 19-year-old Rainier-area woman on Nov. 13 and labeled her disappearance highly suspicious.

On Saturday, Columbia County Sheriff's Office searchers found her body inside her red 2001 Chevrolet Cavalier in a creek bed.

She was last seen leaving her fiance's mother's house in St. Helens to drive to a friend's house.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017052007_apormissingwomanbody.html

Such a sad ending to this story. It is stated "high speed collision" with extensive damage to driver's side . I was curious about the location - how could it take over a month to find a vehicle that most likely ran off the road within a few mile area - and I found this map:

http://tdn.com/map-missing-lcc-student-found-dead/html_92bd53d0-291b-11e1-8970-001871e3ce6c.html
along with an article linked on that same page:

http://tdn.com/news/local/missing-lcc-student-found-dead-in-crashed-car/article_73c12ede-2902-11e1-9817-001871e3ce6c.html

Wondering if a truck slammed into her, forcing her off the road?
Sure wish initial efforts had seriously focused on where a car may have left the roadway.

ladibug....it is sad and too bad that they weren't able to find Nichole during the searches but this happens now and then. It happened a few years ago in our area. An elderly lady disappeared and about a week later, they found her car which had veered off the road and crashed in underbrush which no one could see. Fortunately she was still alive and survived but if it had gone on much longer she would have died. I've also seen a "Disappeared" show on the Investigation ID channel where this happened to a young woman. Her husband tried and tried to get the police to search for his wife, but they said they couldn't do much as she could have left willingly. I think she was found almost 2 weeks later barely clinging to life and she had crashed and ended up in dense foliage and couldn't be seen from the road. It was a miracle but she made it although I think she did have some permanent injuries. Her husband's persistance that she didn't run off is what helped solve the case.

I know Nichole's family must be so distraught to think that possibly she could have been saved. The article doesn't say if she died instantly as a result of the accident. At least they did find her.