Bend Police found the body of an unidentified middle-aged white man who had suffered a fatal injury in NE Bend on Wednesday night. At approximately 7:16pm, Bend Police responded to the area of the 100 block of NE Emerson Avenue, after police dispatchers received a report of a deceased person in the area. Once officers located the victim, they found the man had suffered a fatal injury.
While detectives investigated the man’s death, officers responded to a trespassing call a few blocks away, in the 600 block of NE Irving Avenue. The caller reported a man wearing a backpack running through his yard and behaving strangely, according to a press release.
Bend Police officers contacted the man, identified as 27-year-old Phillip Matthew Howard Evans, and took him into custody on suspicion of second-degree trespassing. An additional investigation revealed Evans as the suspect in the death of the unidentified man found on Emerson Ave.
Cops arrested Evans and took him to the Bend Police Department, then transferred him to the Deschutes County Jail, on suspicion of second-degree murder, first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon. Detectives are in the process of serving search warrants.
An autopsy will take place on May 8, as attempts to identify the victim are ongoing.
This article appears in Source Weekly May 8, 2025.
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