Oregon Mother Charged In Strangulation Death Of 6-Year-Old Son

EUGENE, Ore. - Oregon State Police arrested Tamara Cherie Bird and charged her yesterday with murdering her 6-year-old son.

Bird had reported her son, Ryan, missing Sunday afternoon, reportedly after he went for a bike ride near his home in a rural area near Cottage Grove.

Lane County District Attorney Doug Harcleroad said the boy was believed slain at his home that afternoon.

His body was found Monday morning in a portable toilet at the Scotts Creek boat landing on the Umpqua River 45 miles southwest of Cottage Grove.

An autopsy showed the boy was strangled, said Karen Gunson, deputy state medical examiner.

Ryan and his 9-year-old sister, Tiffany, moved back to Cottage Grove from Texas with their mother in February.

When she reported him missing Sunday, Tamara Bird told police she last saw her son leaving the family's home on his bicycle shortly before 2 p.m. She said the boy was emotionally distraught from having spoken by phone with his father, a paramedic in Texas from whom she is separated.

She told police Sunday that she was preparing to take her children to church when Ryan left the house on his bicycle after talking to his father.

Hundreds participated in the search for the boy Sunday night and Monday morning.

Bird, 27, was being held at the Lane County jail.

``It's unbelievable to me,'' said Bird's father, Duane Marcotte of Eugene.