Roommate dismembers mom who moved into his home with her daughter, Oregon officials say

A 48-year-old man is going to prison after being convicted of dismembering his roommate a few weeks after she moved in, Oregon prosecutors said.

Kara Taylor, 49, moved into the Oregon City home of Jamon Peter Fritsch with her daughter in mid-2023, according to a March 19 news release by the Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office.

The two knew each other because they were both respiratory therapists, prosecutors said.

In late July 2023, Fritsch was seen on surveillance footage buying zip ties, trash bags, tarps and drain cleaner, among other cleaning supplies at a Home Depot, officials said.

Two days after, on July 27, he reported her missing but quickly became a suspect, prosecutors said. Attorney information for him was not immediately available.

After performing a search warrant on his home, officers used a chemical agent that would detect blood that was otherwise not visible, prosecutors said.

They found blood residue on the bathroom floor, on the bathroom walls, on the tub and on a table saw in the home’s backyard, prosecutors said.

Detectives determined Taylor’s remains were at a Corvallis landfill, about an 80-mile drive southwest of Oregon City, and after a long search, they were found, officials said.

”Even with our childhood issues, the three of us worked our way through it, getting diplomas and GEDs, going to college and earning college degrees and some nice careers. Kara was a respiratory therapist and she was so proud of it. She loved helping patients breathe better,” Taylor’s brother Marcus Sanders said during the sentencing, according to KATU. “It didn’t matter if it was her last dollar or the shirt off her back, Kara would hand it off with a smile.”

Surveillance footage also showed Fritsch at the landfill, disposing of the items he bought at Home Depot, shortly after Taylor disappeared, prosecutors said.

He eventually confessed to the killing via email to a detective after learning of the evidence, officials said.

“Jamon, you acted as God and took her last breath from her, and I have no intention of wasting another breath of mine on you,” Taylor’s sister-in-law, Jennifer Sanders, said during his sentencing, according to KATU.

He pleaded guilty to murder and abuse of a corpse, officials said.

He was sentenced to life in prison, the release said.

Oregon City is about a 10-mile drive southeast of Portland.

This story was originally published March 20, 2025 at 11:52 AM with the headline "Roommate dismembers mom who moved into his home with her daughter, Oregon officials say."