Stephen Criss

 

Oregon man  indicted after more than 4 decades for murdering teens in 1974

Oregon Police Arrest Convicted Murderer and Army Veteran Stephen Criss for 1974 Cold Case Slaughter of High School Students – After Charging the Wrong Man

By Edward Era Barbacena

The suspect in a decades-old double-murder case made his first appearance in Washington County court Thursday.

Stephen Criss was charged with two counts of second-degree murder.

Officials say he killed two teenagers in 1974, 16-year-old Donald Bartron and 18-year-old Peter Zito, Jr.

On Thursday, one of the victim’s sisters addressed the court.

“I believe in justice. It's not going to bring my brother, Peter, back, and it's caused a huge heartbreak and division in my family for over 45 years, and no criminal should ever get away with any crime for any reason," she said.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office held a news conference Friday to provide more information on Criss' arrest and case details.

Investigators said that in October 1974, 16-year-old Donald Bartron and 18-year-old Peter Zito, Jr., were murdered in the parking lot of a local recreation center. Both Bartron and Zito Jr. had been shot multiple times in the head with a .22 caliber gun.

Criss was identified as a potential suspect shortly after the murders. However, police at the time arrested and charged an innocent man for the murders, Joseph Amir Wilson. The charges against Wilson were dropped in January 1975.

In December 1974, Criss was arrested for theft and was found to have an illegally concealed .22 caliber handgun in his car. The gun was returned to Criss after the theft case was concluded. At the time, no ballistic match could be made between that gun and the murders.

Criss later joined the U.S. Army. In 1976, he used the same gun to murder his commanding officer, Sgt. Jacob “Kim” Brown. Criss also shot Sgt. Brown multiple times in the head.

That murder was investigated first, and Criss pled guilty and was sentenced to 35 years in Fort Leavenworth. He was paroled and released in 1988.

In 2022, detectives submitted ballistic evidence to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The ATF reported a match in evidence from the 1976 murder in Washington and the 1974 murders in Oak Hills. To date, this is the oldest known comparison and match on a prosecutable case.

Criss was indicted for two counts of murder in the second degree by a grand jury in November 2022. He is currently being held in the Washington County Jail.

The Sheriff’s Office notified the families of both victims and wants to recognize their unwavering devotion to seeing justice for their loved ones.

The investigation was assisted by multiple agencies, including the Oregon State Crime Lab, the Pierce County (WA) Sheriff’s Department, the ATF, and the CID.

The Sheriff’s Office also wished to formally apologize to any relatives of Joseph Amir Wilson. Wilson passed away in 2000.

Detectives are investigating the possibility of Criss being responsible for additional homicides.