By LAUREN L. DILLARD
Of the News-Register

A body presumed to be that of the victim in a year-old Salem murder case was discovered Tuesday morning in a barrel on a Yamhill County hog farm.

On Aug. 16, 2006, Salem resident Leonardo Garcia-Gonzalez, 22, was indicted for murder in the death of fellow Salem resident Christopher Lampkin, 23. He is scheduled to go on trial on a murder charge and two related charges - unlawful use of a weapon and abuse of a body - on Nov. 5 in Marion County Circuit Court.

Now, authorities believe they may finally have located Lampkin's body.

A Tuesday search at Valley View Farms, west of McMinnville off Highway 18, led to discovery of human remains in one of dozens of barrels spread about near a house at 16000 S.W. Oldsville Road.

The house is occupied by renter Penny Jo Jaeger, 39. It is owned by Joseph Francis Schmidt of 16006 S.W. Oldsville Road, who also owns the hog farming operation.

"I don't know how they found it, but they found what they were looking for," Schmidt said when contacted at the scene. He said he had no idea what led to the dumping of a body on his property or what led police to discover it.

The search was carried out by about 50 law enforcement officers from the Salem Police Department, Marion County District Attorney's Office, Oregon State Police Crime Lab, Yamhill County Sheriff's Office and McMinnville Police Department, with Salem police taking the lead role. Armed with a warrant, they handcuffed several farmworkers employed by the farm.

Schmidt was not there when officers swarmed onto the property, but arrived while the search was under way.

He expressed displeasure with the way it was conducted, saying officers kicked in a door after he went inside to retrieve something. He said they also crushed a fence while deploying some armored personnel carriers he described as "tanks."

The warrant was served as part of an ongoing Salem police investigation into Lampkin's disappearance the afternoon of April 10, 2006.

Lampkin was last seen getting into a green sedan near his West Salem home. Police were quickly able to develop enough evidence to conclude he had been slain, identify a suspect and make a case, but had not been able to find his body.

The Charley Project, which maintains an extensive online data base on missing persons, has this to say about Lampkin in a current posting: "His presumed death is believed to be drug-related, as he was involved with methamphetamine at the time of his disappearance."

The remains discovered Tuesday, hauled away for further examination, have not yet been positively identified as his. However, the medical examiner said they were those of a white male who had died of homicidal violence.

Schmidt attributed the presence of the barrels to illegal dumping on his property.

"People come in here and drop off junk," he said. "They never ask me and I never ask them."

He said the search and the gruesome discovery that ensued caught him totally by surprise. "I don't know what to say," he offered, indicating he was taken aback by the day's developments.

Jaeger could not be reached.

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