View Full Version : 30 years missing: Jeremy Bright


1990 UM fan
08-14-2016, 06:34 PM
Today marks 30 years since Jeremy Bright disappeared. On August 14th, 1986, Jeremy and his younger sister attended the Coos County Fair in Myrtle Point, Oregon. Around 2pm, the two separated but would meet at the Ferris wheel at 5pm. Jeremy never surfaced. His mother Diane arrived the next day to pick up her children at their stepfather's house. Jeremy's wallet, watch and apartment key were left in the house. Another day would pass until Diane alerted the police, who suspected that Jeremy ran off with the circus, but his family insisted that he would not have done that and would not have abandoned his sister.

A few others theories arose concerning Jeremy's fate. It was thought that he attended a party the night he vanished and drank an alcoholic beverage laced with an illegal drug, which would have interacted with his heart murmur and become fatal. Another theory was that Jeremy was shot by a group of local troublemakers while swimming in a watering hole near the Coquille River, and that attempts were made to nurse him back to health, but that he later died and his body buried in a shallow grave in the woods. A search of the wooded area where Jeremy's body allegedly was turned up no trace of the young man.

A man named Terry Steinhoff, who once babysat Jeremy, was considered a possible suspect in Jeremy's disappearance. Jeremy was allegedly seen with Terry in his truck the night he vanished. Steinhoff was later convicted in a murder unrelated to the Jeremy Bright case. Terry Steinhoff died in 2007. Jeremy's family held a memorial for him on the 25th anniversary of his disappearance.

justins5256
08-16-2016, 01:23 PM
You looking for a beer? There's one already open right here...

1990 UM fan
08-16-2016, 02:45 PM
I do agree with Jeremy's mother Diane, when she said that if no one comes forward to name the ones that did this to Jeremy, then that's leaving them out there to harm someone else. I wonder if any of the other punks have been in trouble with the law since Jeremy's disappearance? Somebody knows what happened. Some of those who were suspected in the beginning have since passed, but I am sure someone now knows and needs to come forward. Harboring all the secrets isn't worth Jeremy's family's suffering.

dynoguy88
08-17-2016, 12:52 AM
From what I've read, and from what Diane posted here a couple years back, it sounds like the Myrtle Point Police were never that much help. Whether it was from incompetance or laziness, I don't know. But poor Diane never felt like the police really had her back. I think she mentioned one of the reasons for that was because they were part of a small town police department.

Compare the reaction from this small community to that of Joyce McLain six years earlier in the similarly small community of East Millinocket. When she was killed, that entire town rallied around the family, formed a coalition 'Justice for Joyce,' and got several neighboring cities to sign a petition to have the case broadcast on UM. It sounds like Jeremy's loved ones didn't have any of that kind of support. One reason for that was probably because they never had a body. If you were a kid that went missing 30 years ago, more often than not, the police always came to the conclusion that you must have run away...even if it made no sense.

DazzlerSparkler
04-02-2017, 03:14 PM
Did his friend Johnny Fish die?

Cori aka ChrisSCrush
05-12-2017, 04:20 AM
That's creepy because my chiropractor is named Terry Steinhoff. Great guy.

Here is an article about the balloon release ceremony: http://theworldlink.com/news/local/article_f497c1e9-7472-55b7-b123-b455d9003269.html

Some clickbait item said new evidence was uncovered but I could find nothing else.

Steve W.
05-12-2017, 05:32 AM
I do agree with Jeremy's mother Diane, when she said that if no one comes forward to name the ones that did this to Jeremy, then that's leaving them out there to harm someone else. I wonder if any of the other punks have been in trouble with the law since Jeremy's disappearance? Somebody knows what happened. Some of those who were suspected in the beginning have since passed, but I am sure someone now knows and needs to come forward. Harboring all the secrets isn't worth Jeremy's family's suffering.

Yes, they have. Terry's brother (or cousin?) Dennis David Steinhoff (the one portrayed with the blood on his shirt in the UM re-enactment) is a convicted sex offender. I'm not sure about Hoyt Richardson or his father. Those are the four people I've seen mentioned most often as the likely perps. I think there might have been one other guy with them and the Steinhoff's dad might have had knowledge about what happened to Jeremy Bright as well.

Steve W.
05-13-2017, 02:35 AM
Did his friend Johnny Fish die?

Yes, he did about 2 or 3 years ago.

macbeth06
05-13-2017, 04:39 AM
That case was so weird were that guy shot Jeremy in the water.