Sounak Sengupta
NBC’s ‘Dateline: The House on Murder Mountain’ chronicles the triple homicide of Jason Kinser, Suzan Osborne, and Celesta Graves in a rural Polk County, Oregon, mobile home in late November 1998. Despite a hasty arrest, conviction, and multiple suspects, the victims’ families and authorities have numerous unanswered questions over two decades after the heinous crimes. The case offered one twist after another spanning over a decade, and if you’re intrigued in discovering more details, here’s what we know.
How Did Jason Kinser, Suzan Osborne, and Celesta Graves Die?
Jason Roger “Jase” Kinser was born in Tacoma in Pierce County, Washington, on August 17, 1972. His sister, Vickie Kinser, recalled, “Jason — he was the tow-headed kid everybody loved. I mean, he always was smiling.” His other sister, Kathy Kinser, added, “Made you laugh. Biggest smile.” Jason, 26, was hired as a caretaker for a property on 5909 Orchard Heights Road in rural Polk County, west of Salem, Oregon, in 1998 fall. The sisters stated he lived in a mobile home on the property with his fiancé, Suzan Renée Osborne, also 26.
Suzan was born to Thomas and Irene Osborne in West Chester in Chester County, Pennsylvania, on May 23, 1972. She was saving money to attend a school to care for tigers and other large jungle cats. Her father, Thomas, explained the living arrangement, “She was going to take care of the house, I guess. And he was going to do odd jobs.” When asked whether he liked and approved of his daughter’s fiancé, Thomas stated, “Jason was like a son. Everybody liked Jason.”
Celesta Joy Graves was born in McMinnville in Yamhill County, Oregon, on October 11, 1974. Her sister, Jennifer Graves, recalled, “She was a loving, caring person with a good soul.” However, the sister stated Celesta started “hanging out with the wrong people and doing the wrong things,” which ended up in drug charges in late 1998. Police sources noted she had been arrested for drug possession, slapped with charges, and released on bond days before she was killed along with her friends — Jason and Suzan — on November 23, 1998.
Thomas Osborne recalled receiving a distressed call from her daughter and Jason’s landlady on the afternoon of November 23, 1998. He stated he did not know the woman, Bimla Boyd, who allegedly screamed over the call about some shooting deaths. However, the devastating situation cleared when detectives came to the Osborne residence and explained Jason, Suzan, and a friend named Celesta had been murdered inside the Polk County mobile home. Jason’s body had been found in the kitchen while the two women lay under the trailer.
According to Bimla, the real estate owner had looked out around 3:45 pm to see dense smoke rising from the mobile home on her property below. She hastened toward the trailer and fumed because she thought the residents had been using the wood stove, and she had forbidden them from operating it. However, she was devastated to see the camper on fire, extinguished the flames and entered to find Jason gasping on the kitchen floor for air. She called 911 around 3:57 pm, and the police arrived to find the three bodies, shot in the head with .22-caliber bullets.
Murder Case of Jason Kinser, Suzan Osborne, and Celesta Graves Remain Unsolved
As the investigators probed the triple homicide of Jason Kinser, Suzan Osborne, and Celesta Graves, they discovered one startling fact after another. Jason turned out to be a small-time drug dealer with two prior drug convictions and a new arrest weeks before the murder. The officers also learned he had been in several drug deals that went wrong, leading to threats against his life. They considered some prominent dangerous drug peddlers Jason had beef with. However, due to a lack of witnesses or physical evidence, they could not bring charges against anybody.
That changed when they came across 32-year-old Philip Scott Cannon, who was seen acting weirdly at the crime scene by two people minutes before the bodies were discovered. Philip stated he was a plumber and had gone to the trailer to get an estimate on a plumbing problem. However, Suzan allegedly asked him to leave since Jason was amidst a bitter argument with “some Hispanic male” inside the trailer. He denied knowledge about the slayings, but the police found an extensive gun collection in his garage and learned about his alleged drug use.
Though the police did not discover the murder weapon, they found hundreds of rounds of bullets and homemade silencers. During his early 2000 trial, the prosecution presented an expert who conducted a metallurgic analysis of the slugs recovered from the bodies and that of Philip to determine they were indistinguishable. The two witnesses and Bimla Boyd placed him at the scene minutes before the murder, and a jury found him guilty of three counts of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to three life sentences without parole.
While the victims’ families thought their ordeal had concluded, Philip steadfastly maintained his innocence. His claims were somewhat justified when Bimla, then 46, was arrested in late 2002 in the shooting death of Robert Daniel Spencer, 54, the erstwhile caretaker at her rural property. He had died from a single gunshot wound to the throat in her home. Reports stated Charles Boyd, 44, had also died in his ex-wife’s five-bedroom home in mid-February 2002 due to a probable combination of prescription drugs and health complications.
Philip’s defense counsel also interviewed some residents who cast aspersions on Bimla’s testimony and activities on the day of the triple homicide. Bimla admitted shooting Robert but claimed she had caught him sexually abusing her teenage daughter. Eventually, she cut a deal, pleading guilty to manslaughter and agreeing to serve nearly seven years. Philip also hired a private investigator, who claimed to have discovered the alleged “Hispanic male” his client had been mentioning of arguing with Jason.
Thomas “Tom” McMahon had been arrested with Jason for selling methamphetamines six weeks before the latter was killed. Tom’s erstwhile girlfriend also stated in an affidavit that he had called him hours after the murder and mentioned some disturbing stuff that only the killer would know. A fellow cellmate also told the authorities about his paranoia and alleged constant mentions of shooting three people execution-style. Philip also picked Tom out of a photo line-up while serving his sentence in 2009.
However, he was never charged and only served ten years after pleading guilty to unrelated multiple drug charges. Philip’s conviction was vacated in 2009, and he prepared for a re-trial. However, he was never tried again since the Oregon Department of Justice reported that Polk County had destroyed the original trial exhibits in December 2009. He was released, and the charges against him were dismissed on December 18, 2009. No arrests have been made to date regarding the deaths of Jason, Suzan, and Celesta.
Read More: Philip Scott Cannon: Where is the Falsely Convicted Now?
