Missing Since: 1984-05-23 Location: Portland, Oregon
Luke was last seen in Portland, Oregon on May 23, 1984. He left a friend’s house at 5:15 p.m. to walk home, which was just a short distance away, but never arrived and has never been heard from again. His mother, who was nine months pregnant at the time, called the police at 7:00 p.m., but the authorities didn’t initiate a search until 1:00 a.m. The serial killer Douglas Franklin Wright confessed to Luke’s murder a week before his execution by lethal injection in 1996. It was the first execution in the state of Oregon in 34 years; Wright dropped all his appeals and volunteered to die. Wright murdered four homeless men in 1991, leaving their bodies by roadsides, and in 1970 he was convicted of killing a woman and her mother. He stated he’d abducted Luke at random, kept him captive for 36 hours, sexually molested him, and shot him six times in the head. Wright said he’d buried the child’s body in a remote area in the vicinity of Mount Hood, near the Wasco County line, but a search turned up nothing. Nevertheless, authorities believe the confession was accurate. A photo of Wright is posted with this case summary. Luke has never been located, but is presumed deceased. Investigating Agency Portland Police Bureau 503-823-1081 Source Information NamUs The Seattle Times The Oregonian The Anchorage Daily News Updated 1 time since October 12, 2004. Last updated February 26, 2016; casefile added.