10:02 PM PDT on Thursday, June 15, 2006

KGW.com

PORTLAND - Portland Police said the adopted 17-year-old granddaughter of state Sen. Margaret Carter is the latest victim of a pair of serial killers arrested earlier this week in a pair of random killings.

kgw.com/Portland Police

Marissa Manwarren

Police discovered 17-year-old Marissa Manwarren dead of a gunshot wound to the head Wednesday evening near Beverly Beach in Newport, said Detective Paul Dolbey, a spokesman for the Portland Police Bureau.

Investigators said Manwarren was associated with 21-year-old Shawn Ryan Womack and 19-year-old Cevelino Capuia, who were arrested Tuesday after being found in the cars of two murder victims, he said. Manwarren had been dating Capuia for the past three months, said family members, but Dolbey said he could not confirm that at this time.

Manwarren, who has lived in foster homes for years, was the adopted granddaughter of Carter, D-Portland. She and her sister lived with the Carter family, but Manwarren had not been seen for the past three weeks, Carter said.

She said the family had not reported her missing to police.

"I'm very saddened by this whole situation," said Carter, who said Capiua had visited their house to discuss the age difference between the two teens. "They were doing really pretty good."

Womack and Capuia are each facing trial for the murders of 28-year-old Chai Taphom and 38-year-old Michael Burchett. 

Jasmine Lesniak, 22, another associate of Manwarren’s, was arrested Tuesday, after being caught in Burchett’s stolen Honda, Dolbey said.

The investigation revealed that Womack and Capuia had allegedly targeted individuals in or around an adult business, he said. Detectives believe the primary motive in the murders of Taphom and Burchett was robbery and neither Taphom nor Burchett were known to Womack and Capuia, Dolbey said. 

Police said Womack and Capuia were linked to the two random murders by ballistic evidence and by witnesses.

In messages posted to Capiua’s account on the popular social networking Web site MySpace.com, friends indicated a third murder victim, which eventually led detectives to Manwarren. Dolbey said none of the information on Capuia's web page has been proven as fact.