Soured romance leads to murder in an outer SE Portland street

She told cops she was still in SE Portland‚ when in fact the alleged gunwoman was heading toward Bend at speeds of up to 100 mph. Learn what happened‚ and see our exclusive photos‚ right here‚

Investigators examine the murder scene for evidence on SE Boise St., just east of SE 104th Avenue.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton
As dawn breaks on May 30, 36-year-old Michael Kellerman lies on the sidewalk on SE Boise Street, shot dead.

“At 5:36 a.m., Portland Police Bureau responded to a ‘report of a man down’ here, just east of SE 104th Avenue,” reports Sergeant Brian Schmautz, Portland Police Bureau’s Public Information Officer.

Police swarm the scene, and tape off streets in this typically quiet, working-class neighborhood, located between SE Powell and SE Holgate. Investigators arrive and start gathering evidence.

Suspect quickly identified
It doesn’t take detectives long to identify the individual suspected of this murder. Witnesses tell them a woman shot Kellerman and drove off in her green Chevrolet Malibu with Oregon license plates. This information is immediately dispatched to law enforcement agencies.

It didn’t take long for detectives to identify 30-year-old Jacqueline Kay Fielder, reported to be the ex-girlfriend of Kellerman, as a suspect in the shooting.

Just 12 days before the shooting, police and family members say Kellerman filed a restraining order against Fielder. Police add that Fielder then managed to convince Kellerman that she had committed suicide, so that he was reportedly mourning her death, and was caught totally by surprise when she showed up at his house with a gun, which was apparently her plan.

Police say they suspect this woman, Jacqueline Fielder, feigned suicide, broke a restraining order against her, and shot Michael Kellerman before fleeing to Redmond, Oregon.

Tracked to Central Oregon
An East Precinct Lieutenant on scene tells us police contact Fielder by cell phone; she leads them to believe she’s still in the area. But, in fact, Fielder is racing toward Central Oregon‚ at speeds topping 100 mph.

“State, county and city officers attempted to stop the vehicle southbound on Highway 97,” says Schmautz. “Eluding officers‚ and spike strips‚ she sideswiped a commercial truck in Terrebonne.”

An Oregon State Police (OSP) trooper spots Fielder’s Chevrolet Malibu at 7:40 a.m.; keeps the suspect vehicle in sight, and follows her until officers from Jefferson County and Madras Police Department arrive to help stop her.

As the chase to Central Oregon continues, detectives and investigators continue to examine the scene were Kellerman was shot to death.

Puts gun to her head
The officers finally stop Fielder at NW Birch and 6th Ave, in Redmond, Oregon. According to police reports, she slowly gets out of her car armed with a handgun. She runs toward an auto dealership. Officers follow; they find her behind a building on the car lot.

“As officers negotiated with the suspect to surrender,” Schmautz says, “she pointed a handgun at her head. Following several minutes of negotiations, she shot herself.”
While Fielder initially survives the shot from what officials tell us was a large caliber handgun, she dies early the following morning, at 12:15 a.m., in a Bend hospital; an autopsy reveals additional bullet wounds in her stomach.

“What a tragic end to all this,” says one of Kellerman’s neighbors who wishes to remain anonymous, “I still can’t believe that this happened.”

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