Oregon Cab Driver Found Dead

SALEM, Ore. - Screams heard over a taxi dispatcher's radio early yesterday led Marion County sheriff's deputies to the body of a cab driver who deputies say crashed after she was abducted.

Michelle Howard, 36, of Salem was found in her taxi after a Yellow Cab dispatcher called deputies at 5:14 a.m. yesterday.

Deputies found the cab had struck a tree on a rural road.

"We do know the cab driver picked up a fare in the Salem area and was driving to an area just north of Brooks," sheriff's spokesman Randy Corey said.

Daniel Wayne Kirkland, 29, of Keizer was arrested later in the day on charges of aggravated murder, kidnapping, robbery and being an ex-convict in possession of a firearm, deputies said. Information on this page is from Seattle Times staff and news

services.