Portland Police Bureau(PORTLAND, Ore.) — A suspect has been arrested after he allegedly stole a wedding ring and backpack from one of the Portland, Oregon, stabbing victims, according to police.
The Portland Police Bureau said George Elwood Tschaggeny, 51, was taken into custody early Friday when he was found wearing the wedding ring of Army veteran Ricky Best, who was stabbed to death on a commuter train a week ago. He was arrested at a homeless camp under a Portland overpass after a Domino’s Pizza worker recognized the suspect from a photo circulated by police.
Detectives also recovered Best’s backpack, but police said some items were still missing, including a military-style camouflage colored wallet that holds a list of his friends’ phone numbers.
Portland Police Sgt. Pete Simpson said detectives wanted to find the suspect so Best’s family could get his property back.
“They suffered an immense loss and this is just one more, you know, layer of tragedy to their already awful experience,” he said.
Tschaggeny was charged with theft in the second degree, tampering with physical evidence, and abuse of a corpse in the second degree.
Best, 53, and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, 23, were killed when Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, allegedly attacked them with a knife after they intervened to stop him from yelling racial slurs at two teenage girls, one of whom was wearing a hijab.
Micah David-Cole Fletcher, 21, was a third man who intervened and survived the stabbing.
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