Posted: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 12:00 am
JEFFERSON (AP) - Bruce Turnidge comes from a family that has lived in the Willamette Valley for generations.
But despite the strong roots, the man arrested in this farming area northwest of Jefferson Tuesday for allegedly helping his 32-year-old son build a bomb that killed two officers at a Woodburn bank remains a mystery to many who knew him.
Much like his son, Joshua Turnidge, who made his first court appearance earlier Tuesday, relatives and neighbors describe the elder Turnidge as friendly, but reclusive.
"It seems so strange, it just doesn't sound like him,'' said Dale Turnidge, the first cousin of Bruce Turnidge's father.
Dale Turnidge, 88, of Salem said he knows little about his cousin's son, except that he worked on farms in the Willamette Valley and near the Oregon-Nevada border, and he "bounced around'' for decades as an adult. The 88-year-old said he has never met Joshua Turnidge.
Neither has Wally Turnidge, a distant relative and retired educator. Still, he said, the Turnidge clan is "very Christian,'' and doesn't know why members of the family would be involved in plotting or carrying out such a crime.
Both suspects have violated traffic and vehicle laws, but have no record of serious offenses in Oregon.
"As far as I know, this is the first member of the Turnidge family I can recall ever running into the arms of the law,'' Wally Turnidge said.
According to Dale Turnidge, the family has deep roots in the Willamette Valley. Several generations ago, Bruce Turnidge's grandfather, who was a minister for a missionary and fought in the Navy during World War II, began farming there.
"His dad had the biggest peppermint farm in the whole Willamette Valley,'' said Dale Turnidge, whose father also farmed in the area. "Turnidge and peppermint was synonymous.''
When Bruce Turnidge was about 18, his father lost the farm, leaving the young man and his brothers, Pat and Doug, to set out on their own, Dale Turnidge said.
Bruce's older brother, Pat Turnidge, got involved in local politics, while Doug Turnidge became the director of an Oregon youth camp, according to Dale Turnidge.
He said Bruce ran a backhoe business for awhile, then drifted between farms in Oregon and Nevada. Most recently, the father and son had worked to establish an alternative-fuel business, said Randy Jacobsen, Joshua Turnidge's friend and landlord.
"It was difficult for them to start from the bottom and start over again,'' Dale Turnidge said. "It's so astonishing to me… My father and my uncle would have turned over in their grave if they knew this had happened.''
Marvin Hesse, a 33-year-old dairy farmer who also lives near Bruce Turnidge, said he went to school with Josh Turnidge at Salem Academy, a private Christian school that the suspect's great-grandfather helped start. "He seemed like a normal guy - maybe a bit of a loner,'' Hesse said of Joshua. "We're all blown away by this. We never heard odd noises or booms or anything like that around here.''
Keith and Leslie Johnston, who are both in their 60s, own the farm where Bruce and his wife Janet's rental home sits. The Johnstons also live nearby, and say the Turnidges were respectful neighbors who never showed any signs of suspicious behavior.
The Johnstons said they don't know how the 57-year-old suspect and his wife found the means to pay their monthly rent.
"We never heard him talk about the government or anything like that,'' Keith Johnston said. "He never voiced a grudge against anybody.''
"This is all crazy,'' his wife added. "It just doesn't make sense to us.''