Oregon Fisherman Accused of Murdering Buddy, Dumping Body

Erin Rieman

It's safe to say that if Erin Rieman ever asks you out on his boat, you're obligated to at least think twice. The Pacific City, Oregon man was arrested yesterday and charged with the murder of his friend and business partner, 53-year-old John Adkins. Adkins had been missing since July 4th weekend, when he, Rieman and a third man set off from Garibaldi, Oregon in The Tiger, the 48-foot fishing boat they co-owned.

Investigators say the point of the trip was to fix the boat in Ilwaco Harbor, just on the other side of the Oregon-Washington border. When The Tiger came back to port, however, Adkins was no longer on board. Adkins' family reported him missing three days later, but no body has been found. The key to arresting Rieman, says Pacific County prosecutor David Burke, was the third, yet identified, man on the boat.

John Adkins

According to the newly released court documents, the third man on the boat, a hired deckhand, spent months denying he knew of Adkins' whereabouts. Then he came forward on Monday with his side of the story.

The deckhand claims he was out drinking on the night of July 5th. When he came back to the boat he saw Adkins and Rieman fighting in the pilot house. He said he then saw Rieman smash Adkins' head through a window, punch him several times then tie an extension cord around his head. Rieman then strangled Adkins and took the $5,000 he'd brought along on the trip, say the court documents.

For two days, the deckhand claims he and Rieman trolled around pretending to search for Adkins before finally dumping his body, wrapped in a sleeping bag and tied down with fishing weights, into the ocean. The reason the deckhand waited so long to come forward, he says: Rieman threatened to kill him and his girlfriend if he talked.