A 63-year-old woman who was reported missing Friday and then found dead Saturday at the bottom of a cliff near Horsetail Falls in the Columbia River Gorge has been publicly identified.
Officials at the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said Monday that next of kin have been notified and the woman was Terina Kaye Chapman. Officials originally thought she was 61 but clarified her age Monday.
Chapman lived in Southeast Portland. Although her LinkedIn profile doesn’t appear to have been updated in a few years, she listed herself as a “(p)aleo chef, caterer, culinary teacher, food coach, and counselor,” noting that she had a graduate degree in psychology. She wrote that she had worked part-time at New Seasons for more than 13 years. She also said she ran a promotional public kitchen, testing recipes and teaching three-hour, seasonal classes to adults and youth.
She also wrote that she volunteered as a line cook at a women’s shelter and a cook for Mingus Mapps’ team while he was running for election to Portland City Council in 2020. No one from New Seasons or Mapps’ office responded to calls from The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Officials haven’t said what caused Chapman’s death – whether she encountered a problem before falling or the fall caused her death. They know of no witnesses who saw what happened.
A friend reported Chapman missing after she did not return from a solo hike to Oneonta Falls Friday. The sheriff’s office said they responded around 10 p.m. after the friend said she found Chapman’s car parked at the lot next to the Horsetail Falls Trailhead.
The sheriff’s deputies assigned to a team trained for quick deployment to trails in the Columbia River Gorge searched for Chapman throughout the night. Gresham Police used drones to aid in the search.
Chapman didn’t have a cellphone on her, and officials say that made it tougher to find her because they couldn’t use cell tower pings.
By 10 a.m. Saturday, more than 50 people – plus tracking dogs and drones – were scouring the area. Her body was found at about 12:30 p.m. The Hood River Crag Rats and search and rescue teams from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office and Mountain Wave took part in the operation.
