Troy Dean Carney

Young Man Found Dead in Homeless Camp

From Help Find The Missing

A stark black and yellow mask from the Marvel Comics character Wolverine might give Jackson County Sheriff's Department detectives a look into the final hours of a man who was murdered along the Bear Creek Greenway outside Central Point in early September.

Investigators discovered the distinctive mask at a campsite near where Troy Dean Carney, 44, was found dead in a sleeping bag Sept. 4, hidden in brush between the Central Point freeway interchange and Table Rock Road.

Police identify victim of apparent greenway homicideGreenway body prompts investigation Four camps were tucked in the blackberry brambles not far from the Pilot truck stop — Carney's and three others, Jackson County Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Colin Fagan said.

Investigators tracked down a couple who had left one of the camps a few days before the murder likely occurred on Sept. 1 and a man who moved on from one of the others in the weeks following the crime, Fagan said. But at the final abandoned camp, they found only a small dome tent and a scattering of debris and personal items, including the Wolverine mask, which was propped up as if on display.

"It might not have anything to do with the murder, but we hope it can help us narrow down who had camped there," Fagan said.

Investigators want to talk to whoever stayed there to find out if they had seen Carney or anyone with him in the days or hours before he was killed.

Carney had lived in the Rogue Valley 10 years ago, but in the past decade had traveled the country with truckers. He worked as a "lumper," loading and unloading trucks and riding along with the driver, Fagan said.

This summer, Carney rode into the Willamette Valley from Idaho. He decided to visit old friends in the Medford area and stayed with them for a while, but his presence stressed their relationship, they told investigators. Carney planned to camp near the Central Point truck stop until he could find a ride to a larger transportation hub where he could resume his nomadic lifestyle, Fagan said.

Carney ate at the Pilot and used the phones there. In the parking lot, he offered to do odd jobs, such as polishing chrome, for truckers to earn money. He was last seen in surveillance photos at the business on the evening of Sept. 1, wearing camouflage cargo shorts and a dark T-shirt, the same clothes he was found dead in, Fagan said.

"He was pretty friendly," Fagan said. "We're hoping somebody saw him Sept. 1 or later."

Carney's friends thought he had left the area until his mother in Florida called to ask where he was, as she hadn't heard from him and he usually called regularly. His friends called police to see if the man found dead near the Greenway could be Carney. It was.

In the days following the discovery, many of the homeless men moved their camps out of the immediate area because they were afraid, Fagan said.

Around 1 a.m. on Sept. 14, however, someone returned to set a fire in the midst of the now-empty campsites. Distance and natural barriers kept fire crews from the blaze for 24 minutes, so by the time they arrived to douse the flames, no one was around.

Still, investigators say the fire was intentionally set and they suspect it could have been started to cover up evidence and keep detectives away.

They would like to talk to anyone who has information on the fire. They also want information on the mask and who might have owned it. They also would like to talk to anyone else who Carney might have associated with around the time of his death.

From The Mail Tribune:

Police believe the murders of an Ashland man living on Dead Indian Road and a transient camping out along the Bear Creek Greenway last September might be linked.

A little over a year has passed since David E. Lewis, 46, was found inside his burnt home in the 12800 block of Dead Indian Memorial Road and Troy Dean Carney, 44, was discovered at his campsite, the victim of a gunshot wound.

Nine days after Carney was found a fire swept though the area where he had been camping. Investigators determined the fire was intentionally set by someone trying to destroy the scene of the crime.

"We find two men killed by homicidal violence on the same day and both scenes were covered by fire," Jackson County Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Colin Fagan said. "We cannot ignore the commonality here."

In addition, sheriff's investigators believe they have discovered a piece of evidence linking both crimes, but they decline to specify what it is.

"We need to keep that to ourselves so we know good tips from bogus ones," Fagan said. "If someone gives us that information we know we are onto something."

However, investigators have yet to find a link between to the victims.

Despite spending hundreds of man hours pursuing leads in the cases, detectives have yet to prove Carney and Lewis knew each other.

"We are fairly certain these two never spoke to each other when they were alive," Fagan said.

By releasing the information that the crimes might be linked, detectives are hoping someone might contract the department with information connecting the victims.

"Maybe we are overlooking something," Fagan said.

The men led different lifestyles.

Lewis had deep roots in the local community. He was a longtime area resident, known for protecting the land and helping neighbors., according to his family.

Investigators suspect someone ventured up the long driveway to his secluded mountaintop cabin, then had come inside and killed him. Detectives aren't disclosing how Lewis died. They also note that the total destruction of the cabin has eliminated much evidence.

Investigators haven't turned up a motive or suspect in the death of Carney, who was also found dead Sept. 4. Carney's body was found in a sleeping bag off a path that leads away from the Bear Creek Greenway between the Central Point freeway interchange and Table Rock Road. He had been shot at close range a few days earlier.

Carney had lived in the Rogue Valley a decade ago and had recently returned. In the interim he had worked as a "lumper," loading and unloading trucks and riding along with drivers.

"They lived different lives, but we cannot ignore the similarities in their deaths," Fagan said. "These have been long, exhausting investigations."

The sheriff's department is asking the public's assistance in providing information which links the victims. Tips can be left anonymously at the sheriff's at 774-8333.

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The cops found Troy's body on Sept 4th but believe he was killed on Sept 1. That fits some of the findings I have in the charts for these dates. A few people camping nearby had bolted on the 1st and when they were found later they said they had heard gun shots. They claim this happened at night. But when I look at the charts for Sept 1, I find the most likely time for the murder was later in the morning.

Let me start out by saying that I think he was actually murdered on the day after he was last seen, on September 2nd. Even so, the first chart here, for the time he was last seen on September 1st, you can see the death pattern emerging. There are some strange aspects here, as well, including Neptune, together with the node, in the first house and the chart ruler, Uranus, also in the first, in mutal reception with Neptune and both planets retrograde. The death pattern appears mostly focused in the eighth house with the Moon, the fourth house ruler, the tenth house ruler and the eighth house ruler clustered together. The seventh house ruler, as well, is conjoined Saturn, which rules the twelfth. All of this looks like a set up of some sort, with my impression being a robbery or, at the least, a murder over money. The tenth house ruler is lord of chaos, Pluto, and he is in the eleventh. I would bet he was murdered by someone he knew, an associate of sorts and even someone he considered a friend.



Pluto is disposed of by Jupiter in Capricorn in the twelfth, another marker that makes me think this looks a lot like a robbery. But with Jupiter, in turn, disposed of by Saturn in the seventh, it may very well have been a debt or money owed to another person. Or conversely, he could have been trying to collect on a debt or on money owed to him for work he had done. I tend to favor the idea that he had gone to the truckstop to get money owed to him by someone he had done work for. I say this because the sixth house ruler the Moon is in the eighth, the second house ruler, Neptune, is in the first and the seventh house ruler, the Sun, is disposed of by Mercury in the eighth. This all looks like Troy had done work (sixth house) for which he expected to be paid (Moon in the eighth) and he went to the truck stop to pick the money up because this was what he had planned to do (node in the first with Neptune, which rules the second house).

The Sun rules the seventh house and is conjoined Saturn in Libra, which is in exalted. My guess would be that this person was someone much older than Troy. The exaltation of the ruler also implies strength, authority and more power than Troy would have. Also note that the Sun, which rules the seventh, is disposed of by Mercury in Libra in the eighth and Troy was shot in the head. Mars and the Moon hug Mercury tightly in a domino stellium configuration. Mars often represents aggression or an attack in the forensic chart and in most cases, it represents a gun. Libra, an air sign, often shows objects that are up in the air or flying through the air, such as bullets.



Because the chart for 6 pm has a death pattern emerging, it is crucial to look very closely at the charts that follow. Pluto and Mars ruling the tenth with Mars in the eighth and Pluto disposed of by Jupiter in the twelfth, you can see that danger of death is likely. Also we must watch Saturn, which rules the twelfth house and is conjoined to the seventh house ruler. When we run the charts forward to 8 pm that evening, we see that Mercury now rules the seventh and is closely conjoined the Moon and Mars. The first house ruler, Neptune, is now in the twelfth house with the node. The death pattern has temporarily disappeared. That does not mean that events will not emerge later that could fulfill that prediction. But the first house ruler has retreated to the twelfth house with the node, which tells me that Troy has escaped in some fashion and gone into hiding. He is making himself scarce on purpose. I cannot tell if he planned this in advance or if this was a scheme he devised on the spur of the moment. And with Mars angular in the seventh within seconds of the Moon, someone is not happy. This looks like emotional upset and anger to me. Clustered together they are with the seventh house ruler, Mercury, and the second house ruler, Venus, could it be that Troy had something that someone else wanted? Bad enough to kill him? This line up makes that seem possible.



The charts stay stagnant for awhile so I run them ahead as far as I can until I see something developing. You don't always have to do this with forensic charts, in fact, in 8 out of 10 charts the entire event plays out in the first chart for the time last seen. But this chart is moving slowly and things are developing in a slow and indefinite pattern. After running charts for every hour after 8 pm, I notice that the chart for 2 am shows someone in the area (seventh house ruler in the third house). This planet is disposed of by Mercury in the fourth house with the first house ruler also in the fourth. So this is someone coming into Troy's camp while he is there. And please remember that the time on our clocks is not the very same as time in space. The clocks say 2 am but the actual real time is somewhat variable.



It does appear that this person was looking for something in the area of Troy's campsite. Troy was in his campsite at the time and this person was just circling. But Saturn disposed of by Mercury so close to the Moon in the fourth shows a definite purpose involving Troy's belongings or campsite or even Troy himself. Mercury rules the hands and often shows up as theives and pick pockets. And then in the chart for 3 am, I can see that there is a group of people now in the area around Troy's campsite. I do not know if this was a party at a neighboring campsite or people actually visiting with Troy. But the Moon is moving out of the fourth into the third, showing us Troy joining the group. He is actually coming out and leaving his campsite to do so. All of these planets are disposed of by Venus, also in the third, in the sign Libra. Venus rules the eleventh house so we are seeing a group of friends and acquaintances. These people were not strangers to Troy. These planets include all of the angular rulers in the time chart so these are people who played a big part in this event.



I realize that general reports say the police believe he died around 4 am on Sept 2nd but the charts are showing him alive at 5 am. Again, I have to reassert that time in space does not correlate exactly to time as we know it. We manipulate time to facilitate commerce but actual time in space has everything to do with distance so the two concepts don't always converge. You have to trust me on this. This does happen in the early morning hours but not at the exact times as the charts that reflect the events.

All in all, I do not see the death pattern coming to perfection until the chart drawn for 9 in the morning. I do see that, at 5 am, the group has scattered but some of them are still hanging around. One person in particular appears to be going through Troy's things (shown by the seventh house ruler in the second, disposed of by Mercury, also in the second). But Troy is still alive (first house ruler in the first) even if there is a bit of a disruption going on around his campsite (fourth house ruler Pluto in the fifth). But this looks more like an ongoing party rather than a fight or other disturbance. The only omen towards danger that I see in the chart for 5 am is the mutual reception between Uranus and Neptune with Neptune at the seventh cusp and Uranus in the eighth. Someone definitely has an ulterior motive. Somebody is up to no good.



In the chart for 6 am, Pluto enters the fourth house and the angular planets are now in the second. There is a disruption at Troy's campsite, with people going through his things or trashing the place. Venus and Mars ruling the tenth and fourth houses and being strongly placed in the second makes me think that this is a couple (man and woman, married or not) with whom Troy had been or was currently involved. There appears to be a conflict over an object or item of value. The position of Mercury in between Venus and Mars confirms that Troy is somehow involved in this conflict, whether this is a man and woman he knows or a woman he had been involved with romantically. It looks more like a man and a woman he might have known that had an altercation over some item of value and perhaps an item (or money) that Troy either had in his possession or they believed he did. This is seriously what this chart appears to be saying. And this all the while another player, someone in the background, is up to something else and has an ulterior motive (Pisces on the seventh with Neptune disposed of by Uranus in the seventh). Quite the soap opera.

Even with all this confusion and interacting between people at the campsite, Troy is still alive and well at 7 am. There are no oppositions in these charts, so there are no direct pointers. Anger is present but not with the kind of intensity an opposition would create. In fact, most of the planets are under the Earth and only mildly aspected. Even the squares from Jupiter in Capricorn in the fifth to the cluster of planets in Libra in the second are soft ones. The energy planets in the pattern, both Jupiter and Mars, are in fall positions, which diminishes their strength and actually makes them weak. Jupiter has no power at all in this chart but Mars has some power as an angular ruler. However, Mars is in fall in Libra, disposed of by Venus, also in Libra and thereby exalted and Venus rules the tenth and third houses. The tenth house rulership and the exaltation in placement makes me think the real player in this set up is either a woman or a man with feminine qualities. This does not mean a gay man but it does not preclude one, either.

I must add a few things, though. These planets are on both sides of Mercury, also in Libra, in the second house. These three planets, along with the Moon, create a powerhouse stellium. Mercury rules the first house, giving it the most power but it also rules the second. Mercury describes bills and paper money. So perhaps this is the money that Troy was paid earlier that day, when we went to the truckstop? Could they have followed him back, intent on stealing it? Or did they feel he owed them something and they came here to collect? It's hard to tell.



Even so, the real omens of imminent danger do not appear until 8 am. Looking at that chart, you will see that Venus and Mars have just entered the first house with Mercury (the first house ruler) and the Moon (the chart co ruler) sandwiched in between. Venus and Mars rule the eighth and ninth houses. This while the seventh house ruler, Neptune, is now in the fifth house. I will tell you this, that Mars rules the eighth house and it is climbing the first towards the Ascendant, is a sign of pending violence. Saturn has entered the twelfth house while Saturn is the standard marker for a dead body and the twelfth house is the house of endings (including end of life). At this time, you should also note the seventh house ruler, Neptune, in the fifth house with the node. Someone is drunk or high on drugs. This is something that always happens with this person. He or she plans out their day around getting high or drinking and the homeless camp is the place they do it. So someone is drunk or stoned.

Jupiter has entered the fourth house and in doing so, has given power to Saturn in the twelfth. Pluto is right at the nadir, a harbinger of an upset, at the least, or, at the worst, a major change bordering on chaos. To give this even more energy, Uranus at the seventh cusp is square to Pluto, a configuration that describes agitation. So with these perfecting aspects, Pluto at the nadir, Saturn in the twelfth, the twelfth house ruler in the twelfth, the eighth house ruler in the first and the fourth house ruler in the fourth, we can actually see the death pattern that began earlier reaching an apex.



In the chart for 9 am you see his actual death. You can see it was caused by a gun shot to the head. Mars conjoins Mercury right at the first house cusp with the first house ruler, Venus, falling into the twelfth. Mars rules the seventh so there was a man with a gun there at this time and he shot Troy. All of these planets are disposed of by Venus and Venus rules the eighth, so this person had the purpose of killing Troy. He actually came to the campsite to do this. Moon rules the tenth and is placed in the first, so he was killed out in the open, in a public place. Venus and Mercury together in the twelfth tell me he was asleep when he was shot. This is asserted by Neptune in the fifth as well. Neptune, the planet of sleep, in the fifth house, the house of the bedroom. Troy was shot in his bed. He wasn't shot elsewhere and put there. He was asleep when he was shot. Mars rules the seventh but it also rules the second, so I must assert again that Troy was killed over money. This was not a personal vendetta or a serial killer passing through but someone he knew. Someone who either wanted something Troy had or beleived Troy owed him. The money markers are just too strong in these charts for the motive to be anything else.

I want to take a shot at describing the person who shot Troy. This was a man, as I have already stated, but there may have been a woman present at the same time. Mars in Libra gives a man with a swagger, the type of guy who likes women and fancies himself a playboy. But he is not above smacking his women around and may have had previous run ins with the law over domestic abuse or hurting women he was messing around with. Libra makes him tall and on the thin side, with long bones and fingers. Soft, almost feminine features such as long eyelashes and dimples but a strong desire to appear manly so there may be a history of working out with weights or participating in muscular sports. He may have been, at one time, a body builder. He may also have a fondness for art, especially body art, and he probably has tattoos. Mostly romantic ones like hearts with women's names and figures of beautiful women. Libra describes a person who is always on the move, doesn't like to sit still, and is involved with many different people. In women, it creates a "social butterfly" so picture a man who mingles with a lot of people and travels around, very rarely settling down. If he does work, it will be on the road. This was Troy Carney's lifestyle, as well, so it would not be unusual for these men to run across each other along the way.

Now, in relation to the queries about this case being similar to the case of David Lewis, who was killed not far from where Troy was killed and that police believe there were similiarities, most especially the fact that both crime scenes were set on fire. This chart seems to describe someone Troy knew and that the motive was money. Oddly enough, I remember the David Lewis charts well enough to recall that there was a woman in that case who was after something David had. But whether those similarities can tie the two cases together, I am not yet sure. I am reworking the David Lewis case at this time and will post it in the near future. At that time, I will look for links between these two cases and see if the cops are onto something with their theory.