Logman

A woman seeking a ride Saturday morning with her four children near Pilot Rock cut the throat of the driver, Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan reported. Vanessa Logman, 30, of Pendleton, now faces charges of attempted murder, second-degree assault and attempted unlawful use of a weapon.

The victim, Bill Porter, 48, of Hermiston, needed several stitches to close the cut and was released from St. Anthony Hospital, Pendleton, later that day.

Rowan said Porter was driving a silver Dodge pickup on East Birch Creek Road near Indian Lake with his ex-wife Brenda Porter when Logman waved them down a little before 11:30 a.m. She was with her four sons, ages 11, 10 and 6-year-old twins, and asked Porter for a ride to St. Anthony Hospital.

Porter obliged. Logman and her sons climbed into the back seat of the pickup, and they all headed down the road.

Logman then pulled a knife from her purse, Rowan said, grabbed Porter’s shoulder, reached over the seat and sliced his throat.

Porter stopped the pickup in the road. He got out and pulled Logman from the vehicle. He and Brenda Porter wrestled the knife away, and a passerby helped them subdue Logman and used a belt to tie her hands behind her back. They waited for law enforcement.

The sheriff’s office received a call at 11:27 a.m. reporting the attack. Undersheriff Jim Littlefield said county deputies and Oregon State Police troopers responded to the scene, and deputies arrested Logman and booked her into the Umatilla County Jail, Pendleton, where she remained as of Monday morning.

Bill Porter received 11 stitches, and Brenda Porter suffered superficial injuries in the fracas, Littlefield said, and social workers with Children & Family Services from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation arrived and took Logman’s children into custody.

Logman told the sheriff’s office she has a history of mental illness, Littlefield said, and claimed she wanted out of the vehicle and cut Porter to make him stop. Bill Porter and Brenda Porter said Logman made no request to stop and exit and gave no indication she would attack.

Pendleton police received a request Friday at 6:42 p.m. to check on Logman’s well being, according to its daily bulletin. A man who said he was Logman’s husband reported she was possibly having a “manic episode” and not taking medication to treat her mental illness. He reported he arrived to their home on N.W. J Avenue, Pendleton, and she was not there. He also said she did not contact him following a medial appointment earlier in the day.

Littlefield said the mental health claims are a part of the ongoing investigation.