--- description: Police believe Zachary Petersen, a 23-year-old Oregon man, shot and killed 15-year-old Annieka Vaughan before killing himself. title: Missing Teen Girl Dead in Murder-Suicide at Park, Police Say image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [oregon](/tag/oregon/) ## oregon Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Missing 15-Year-Old Girl Was Shot to Death in Murder-Suicide at Park, Police Say  by [Jamie Ducharme](/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Nov 11, 2017 8:24 PM CUT  by [Jamie Ducharme](/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Nov 11, 2017 8:24 PM CUT Authorities believe a 23-year-old Oregon man fatally shot a 15-year-old girl before killing himself. The Oregon state medical examiner determined that the teenager, Annieka Vaughan, died by homicide, while the 23-year-old man, Zachary Petersen, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the [Portland Police Bureau](https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/news/read.cfm?id=88644&ec=3 "undefined"). Their bodies were found in Portland’s Forest Park on Wednesday. The pair knew each other, [Oregon Live reports](http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2017/11/missing%5Fteen%5Fman%5Fidentified%5Fas.html "undefined"). Both had been reported missing and authorities believed that Petersen had a gun and might be suicidal. Officials say the bodies were discovered after 19 hours of searching at the intersection of two trails within the sprawling, 5,100-acre Forest Park. They were found close to the Pittock Mansion, a historic house and popular tourist destination. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5020499/zachary-petersen-annieka-vaughan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5020499/zachary-petersen-annieka-vaughan/"},"headline":"Missing 15-Year-Old Girl Was Shot to Death in Murder-Suicide at Park, Police Say","datePublished":"2017-11-11T20:24:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:12:34.918Z","description":"Their bodies were discovered in a park","url":"https://time.com/5020499/zachary-petersen-annieka-vaughan/","keywords":["oregon","Suicide","Murder","Crime","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/oregon/","name":"oregon"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5020499/zachary-petersen-annieka-vaughan/","name":"Missing 15-Year-Old Girl Was Shot to Death in Murder-Suicide at Park, Police Say"}}]}] ```