Judge denies bail for John Day murder suspect

Published 6:08 am Wednesday, July 30, 2025

CANYON CITY — The man on the hook for the slaying of a woman in February at a John Day motel is going to remain in the Grant County Jail.

Gary Dylan Cavan appeared in person — in hand shackles and with the Grant County sheriff’s deputies at his sides — July 25 in Grant County Circuit Court for a pretrial release hearing.

Cavan gave no testimony during the three-hour long proceeding.

The state has charged Cavan with second-degree murder in the brutal killing of his girlfriend Janelle Klaar, 41, Lincoln City, on Feb. 28 in a room at the John Day Motel.

In addition to one charge of second-degree murder, the state has charged Cavan with three charges of first-degree burglary, a Class A felony, one charge of second-degree burglary, a Class C felony, one charge of third-degree theft, a Class c misdemeanor, and one count of second-degree criminal mischief, a class A misdemeanor.

Cavan has been in the custody of the Grant County Jail ever since his arrest March 5 outside Prairie City.

New details emerge

The purpose of the bail hearing was to determine whether enough evidence exists to strongly presume that Cavan did murder Klaar.

Grant County Deputy District Attorney Riccola Voight and Tobias Tingleaf, a senior assistant attorney general with the Oregon Department of Justice, relied heavily on the testimony of Grant County Sheriff Todd McKinley in making their case that Cavan is not eligible for bail.

McKinley testified there is no doubt Klaar was murdered. Mckinley was the first to arrive at Room 204 and observed  Klaar and a large pool of blood.

He found Klaar dead. McKinley said nobody else was in the room.

McKinley said it looked like Klaar had been struck numerous times with a hammer and he observed blood and brain matter at the scene.

McKinley testified the investigation into the crime found that two days before Klaar’s slaying, Cavan texted his mother and referred to a “satanic Jezebel,” later saying he’d never let her be around. Later that day, Cavan referred to someone as “devil girl” to his mother via text message.

Cavan’s mother, Mickie Lynn Turner, has been indicted on charges of helping her son flee and hide from authorities.

McKinley told the court that Cavan during his arrest suggested that an armed officer could slip and accidentally shoot him to save the state some money. McKinley said Cavan smelled of alcohol and was exhibiting signs of drunkenness following his arrest.

Cavan was taken to the hospital over alcohol intake concerns and was later found to be heavily intoxicated.

Oregon State Police trooper Ben Stinette crafted a timeline of events from Cavan and Klaar’s time in Lincoln City until Klaar’s slaying. The pair in January were staying in a motel room in Lincoln City that was destroyed with what motel staff think was a hammer prior to the pair checking out of the room.

Prosecutors introduced evidence of interactions between Klaar and Undersheriff Zach Mobley that led to victims advocates providing Klaar with a bus ticket out of town.

Tingleaf told the court the domestic issues between Klaar and Cavan, Cavan going on the run following Klaar’s slaying and Cavan’s statements are enough to believe Cavan killed Klaar.

Defense makes its case

Portland-based defense attorneys Jordan Willetts and Lynne Morgan focused on the video evidence, a jacket and the swift identification of Cavan as the primary suspect in Klaar’s death in making the case Cavan deserved bail.

Willetts and Morgan called Joshua Cohen, who owns Fat Pencil Studio in Portland and regularly works with attorneys to make presentations to courts to speak about the video evidence and method the police used to collect that evidence.

Cohen explained that Blink or Ring style cameras, such as those at the John Day Motel, have software that detects motion and notifies the camera owner of that motion. They are not ideal, according to Cohen, due to a lack of consistent recording and unknown camera settings or system specs.

There are only three videos from the John Day Motel showing who law enforcement believe to be Cavan and just one showing Klarr. There is no footage of the individual police believe is Cavan on the motel’s second floor.

The videos law enforcement believe depict Klaar and Cavan at the motel in the hours before and after Klaar’s slaying were emailed to law enforcement. Cohen said that is not a demonstration of best practices in collecting video evidence as emailed videos often are sent at a lower resolution than the original video.

The defense focused on a pickup in the motel’s parking lot that appeared to have moved in still shot comparisons of separate videos. Cavan’s defense alleged the motel’s cameras didn’t record movement of the pickup or clips of the pickup’s movement were never provided to police.

Police seized a black jacket as evidence in the case against Cavan. But the defense team argued videos that law enforcement believe depict Cavan show an individual wearing a hood.

Cavan’s defense showed a picture of the jacket, which has no visible hood.

During cross-examination, McKinley said a hood can go into the collar of a jacket but he hadn’t inspected the jacket.

Morgan called the police’s quick identification of Cavan as a suspect bias.

She said Klaar’s history of drug use and homelessness should play a factor in the investigation into her death. Morgan described the video clips police believe depict Cavan as incomplete or inconsistent and called the jacket’s importance as evidence into question. She said the police discounted alternate theories about Klaar’s death.

Morgan asked the court to set reasonable bail for her client.

Court denies bail

Grant County Circuit Court Judge Robert Raschio denied Cavan’s defense team’s request for bail. Raschio said the state had presented clear and convincing evidence and the presumption that Cavan is responsible for Klaar’s death is strong.

Cavan will be in court next on Aug. 18 for a status-check hearing.