Michael J. Wolfe of Gaston was booked into the Yamhill County Jail on Saturday, May 25, after his arrest the day before in Portland. (Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office photo)
Salem police announced Friday evening that they have arrested Michael J. Wolfe of Gaston for the murders of Karissa Fretwell and their 3-year-old son William.
Police said they are still searching to find the Salem mother and the toddler.
Wolfe, 52, was arrested on two counts of aggravated murder and two counts of kidnapping and faces prosecution in Yamhill County. Police said at a news conference in Salem that he was arrested in Portland but declined to discuss what evidence led to Wolfe.
Details on the arrest weren’t immediately available, but it follows searches at Wolfe’s Gaston home and a property outside rural Hopewell. Police also earlier this week searched Fretwell’s west Salem home.
On Friday, divers from the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office searched a body of water that police wouldn’t identify. Late Friday, police said the search was continuing in rural Yamhill County, continuing to focus on the Hopewell area.
She was last seen May 13 and her family reported her missing on May 17.
Polk County court records show that medical testing last summer established that Wolfe was the father of William. In subsequent court proceedings, Fretwell obtained a court order requiring him to provide child support of about $900 a month. That order was just recently entered.
Fretwell at one time worked as a security worker at the McMinnville plant of Cascade Steel Rolling Mills and records show she lived in McMinnville in 2017. A worker at the mill said on social media that Wolfe worked there as well.
Wolfe, a one-time volunteer firefighter in Gaston, lived about a mile outside the community with his wife, Monica. Police said Friday that she had been cooperating in the investigation.
Police are asking that anyone with information about the case call the Salem police tip line at 503-588-8477.
This story will be updated.
Michael J. Wolfe, 52, of Gaston (Salem Police Department photo)
Karissa Fretwell and her son William (Salem Police Department photos)
Police search the Gaston-area home of Michael J. Wolfe on Thursday, May 23. (Aubrey Wieber/Salem Reporter)
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Reporter Troy Brynelson: [email protected] or 503-575-9930.
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