Opinion ID: 2590211
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Murder of Michael Duane Cluck

Text: On April 9, 1981, Michael Duane Cluck, then 17 years old and living in Kent, Washington, told his mother he was going to hitchhike to Bakersfield or Southern California to get a job. Cluck stood five feet eight inches tall and weighed 160 pounds. Cluck took with him a shaving kit his grandmother had given him. Cluck's name was on the kit. About 8:39 a.m. the next day, Cluck's body was found in a ditch on the side of Pebbles Road about 500 feet from Interstate 5 in Oregon. The body was nude from the waist down. There was considerable blood in the facial area and blood smears on other exposed portions of the body. When found, the body was still warm to the touch. Death had resulted from 16 wounds to the back of the head, which had caved in the victim's skull. There was a laceration and blood loss in the area of the rectum. The victim's blood contained alcohol (0.09 percent), bromodiphenylhydramine, chlorpheniramine and codeine. His urine contained norephedrine, codeine metabolites, flurazepam metabolites and chlorpheniramine. On the day Cluck's body was found, defendant sought medical attention in Tualitin, Oregon. He reported to the physician that he had badly bruised his toe about 3:00 a.m. that morning while moving about barefoot in his motel room to turn on the television to watch the launching of the space shuttle. Cluck's shaving kit was found underneath some clothes in a drawer in the hallway of defendant's house. The prosecutor argued to the jury that the entry PORTLAND BLOOD on defendant's list, alluding to the large quantity of blood at the murder scene, referred to Michael Cluck.