The survivor who refuse to stay silent

It started with a walk in the sun. A young woman recently returned from studying abroad, enjoying a gap year after two years of college, was out for a walk. She was enjoying the Portland sunshine when she was approached by a handsome stranger who claimed to be a student photographer. Would she like to model for him? He’d pay her, of cours. She climbed into his van and disappeared.

In Episode 4, we follow the story of Susan—a name we use to protect her privacy—who encountered a man offering a ride. What followed was a nightmare: an abduction, a drive deep into the woods, and a brutal assault that ended with her left for dead in a shallow grave.

But Susan wasn’t dead.

She woke beneath the logs and branches that had been piled on her. Crawled out. Staggered through the brush. Made it back to safety. Her survival was miraculous—and this time, law enforcement acted quickly. Warren Forrest, a Clark County Parks and Rec employee, was arrested the next morning. But this begs the question; why was this victim believed but Norma wasn’t?

The details of her attack eerily mirror those from Norma Jean’s case. A similar van. A similar weapon. A familiar MO. Still, law enforcement didn’t connect the dots.

Even when two more bodies were found in Dole Valley.

This episode reveals Susan’s story using archival audio, first-hand testimony, and law enforcement interviews. Her escape was not just an act of strength—it was a chance to stop Warren Forrest before he struck again.

This time the investigation was thorough; they had their man. Without question. Susan’s survival and her behavior throughout her recovery was nothing short of heroic. And still, Warren Forrest was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to Western State Mental Hospital. This failure by the justice system – they never had their own experts interview Warren Forrest – would only lead to more anguish. And the discovery of another victim.

Susan didn’t just survive. She bore witness. And in doing so, she joined a growing sisterhood of voices that the world has not heard.

Until now.

Ignored survivor, prolific killer.

Norma Jean Countryman escaped her abductor at age 15. She went to the police. She gave them everything: his name, his face, his van, the ropes, the weapon. But no one believed her. Not then. Not when it counted. And in the silence that followed, more girls would vanish.

Episode 3 of Stolen Voices of Dole Valley examines the path of a serial killer following Norma’s report in July of 1974, likely emboldened by the fact that she wasn’t believed. We trace his escalating behavior, the way he adapted, evaded, and hid in plain sight. Through interviews with former detectives, survivors, and legal experts, we see how red flags were ignored, patterns overlooked, and dots left tragically unconnected.

Norma’s voice becomes a warning that went unheard. Her survival could have stopped a serial predator in his tracks. Instead, it marked the beginning of a much larger failure.

Listeners will come to understand the emotional toll of carrying a truth no one wants to hear—and the weight of responsibility when that truth is finally acknowledged, far too late.

What if they had listened?

What if they had believed her?

What if one voice—heard in time—could have saved them all?

Is it D.B. Cooper? An unidentified victim, an unlikely place.

It began at the old Grist Mill in rural Clark County. A group of kids, passing the time on a gray afternoon, hurled rocks at the base of a rotting grain silo. One stone struck with a hollow thud, and something rolled out—something small, pale, and unthinkable. A human hand.

The remains belonged to Barbara Derry, an 18-year-old whose life was violently ended with a single stab to the heart. Her family’s grief was immediate and consuming—but as days turned to months, and months to years, that grief began to mix with a corrosive sense of betrayal. The investigation faltered, leads evaporated, and Barbara’s case went cold.

Too heartbroken to speak publicly, Barbara’s Derry’s last living sibling, Ilene, refused to share her story and tried to prevent her daughter, Jauna—Barbara’s niece—from speaking out. But Jauna had a story to tell. Jauna described the fond memories of the teenage girl she shared a bunkbed with, the void her murder left behind, and the disappointment that justice never came.

Later, Barbara’s name resurfaced—this time in connection to a man suspected of killing multiple women in Dole Valley. Investigators now believe Barbara may have been one of his earliest victims, her murder an ominous prologue to the violence that followed.

This episode revisits the chilling discovery at the Grist Mill, traces the life and loss of Barbara Derry, and examines how her unsolved case fits into the broader hunt for one of the Pacific Northwest’s most elusive suspected serial killers.

The disappearance of Jamie Grissim

Rope. It’s the first image we’re given—and the metaphor that runs through the entire story. In the opening episode of Stolen Voices of Dole Valley, we meet Norma Jean Countryman, a 15-year-old girl abducted in the summer of 1974. She’s bound with coarse rope, gagged, and strung between two trees like a human hammock in the forests of southern Washington.

Norma is left there by a stranger. Her life depends on what she’s willing to do to survive. With her jaw clamped around the gag, she begins to chew. One strand breaks. Then another. Then another. It’s a painful, desperate escape—but she makes it out alive.

That’s only the beginning. Norma tells police everything. The blue van. The man. The weapon. The ropes. But she’s not believed. They question her entire story. They say she’s troubled. Maybe even lying. Her report is ignored—and with that, the serial predator who kidnapped her is allowed to roam free.

This episode introduces not just Norma’s harrowing story of survival, but the first glimpse into a decades-long pattern of dismissal, neglect, and failure by law enforcement. Through archival audio and interviews with Norma—then and now—listeners begin to understand how a system meant to protect the vulnerable can often do the opposite.

Her rope may have broken that day, but the psychological bind has lasted for decades.

Stolen Voices of Dole Valley begins here—with one girl, one rope, and a truth no one wanted to hear. 

But to understand the depths of this case we have to go back to the beginning, with the disappearance of 16-year-old Jamie Grissim. Hear her story in episode 1.

Introducing Stolen Voices of Dole Valley

Stolen Voices of Dole Valley is a haunting investigative podcast series from Pie in the Sky Media, KSL Podcasts and Lemonada Media, hosted by Carolyn Ossorio. With immersive storytelling, archival tape, and survivor interviews, the show revisits one of the darkest, most under-reported serial predator cases in the Pacific Northwest.

The series begins in the early 1970s, when 16-year-old Jamie Grissim vanishes from her foster home in Vancouver, Washington. She would become the first suspected victim in a string of disappearances and murders stretching across rural Clark County. For years, the cases remained unconnected—the victims dismissed as runaways, their investigations forgotten in filing cabinets, or ignored altogether.

At the center of this story is Norma Jean Countryman, a 15-year-old girl who escaped her abductor by chewing through the ropes that bound her. Her account, dismissed by police at the time, holds the key to understanding the scale and method of a predator hiding in plain sight.

Through meticulous reporting and the raw testimony of survivors and family members, Stolen Voices of Dole Valley brings long-buried stories to light. From a body in a silo mistaken for D.B. Cooper to a grieving sister who becomes a tireless advocate, each episode builds toward justice—and reckoning.

Over 50 years after the first disappearance, this series uncovers systemic failures, cultural blind spots, and the fierce resilience of those left behind. In a community desperate for closure, these voices—once ignored—finally speak for themselves.

Follow the show now so you don’t miss an episode. Find us on social at @stolenvoicespod.