Decidedly Grim

Today’s Greasy Yet Truly Morbid Fact!

Eric C. Gottschalk was at the bottom of the pecking order in the Portland apartment he shared with a “street family” of young adults. The band’s matriarch and its enforcer had the 23-year-old sign a contract in which he agreed to do whatever they said and gave them permission to beat him if he didn’t. The contract was marked with Gottschalk’s blood. The band of mostly 18- to 25-year-olds didn’t allow Gottschalk to sit on the apartment’s furniture. Members punched him with brass knuckles and — in one of the more violent incidents — put him in the bathtub and poured hot cooking grease on his genitals. A few days later, on July 9, 2005, Gottschalk’s tormentors beat and stabbed him to death out of fear that he would report the hot-grease incident to police.

Nicholas Alexander Thompson, 27, the so-called enforcer of the band’s rules, poured the hot grease on Gottschalk while Raymundo Angel Dominguez, 35, held him down. After that, Gottschalk left the apartment for a few days. The night before the murder, Thompson made plans in front of other members of the band. When Gottschalk resurfaced by calling and asking to be picked up, Thompson, Dominguez and a few others drove out to get him. But instead of returning to their Parkrose apartment, they drove to the Thousand Acres recreation area east of Troutdale, marched Gottschalk about a mile into the brush and told him to kneel. Dominguez hit Gottschalk with a large stick and punched him. Thompson slashed his torso numerous times and stabbed him in the head, neck and lung.

Thompson pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release. Thompson also was sentenced to the Oregon State Hospital for stabbing and wounding his girlfriend months before the murder. He will start his sentence at the state hospital, where he will receive psychiatric care, then will move to the state prison system when he’s deemed fit or at the end of 20 years. Dominguez was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to kidnapping, assault and conspiracy to commit aggravated murder.

Culled from: Oregonlive.Com

I just recently finished a fascinating book – All God’s Children: Inside the Dark and Violent World of Street Families by Rene Denfeld – that details other horrific crimes committed by these Portland Street Families. I’ll post a full review a bit later… Suffice to say, that I’ll never look at street punks in Portland in quite the same way again!

Facts