BEND, OR -- Investigators continue to search for 24-year-old Sara Gomez, despite the apparent suicide of her ex-boyfriend, Bryan Penner, suspected in her disappearance.
Bend Police Chief Jim Porter says he’s still not able to talk about some details in the ongoing missing-persons case, "These investigations are complicated; they often take turns that are unexpected. In the very beginning, as a police investigator, you go to the worst possible case scenario – which would be homicide – and work your way backwards, and hope it’s only a kidnapping or that it’s only a disappearance. You never assume that you’re dealing with only one suspect; you never assume that. We’ve had homicide investigations here, which I recall since I’ve been working here, where we went in assuming there was one suspect and it turns out there were three suspects." He tells KBND News they might be able to release more information in the future, "We have a few things we want to absolutely lock down and make sure: that we’re only dealing with one individual, that’s there’s no one out there who actually has the information that we can get to."
Gomez disappeared in mid-February, and the District Attorney has said blood, her clothing and phone were found in the Penner's apartment. Although Penner offered no information on her whereabouts prior to his death on Monday.