






"It's enormously tragic in a case like this," Marquis The Associated Press.


If the county had been able to hold Beebout, "there's a good chance that one or two of these young women would be alive," he said.

In many cases, the jails make releases based on data that go into a model called a "matrix" that tries to gauge how dangerous a suspect is and how likely the suspect is to appear in court.

Marquis said the factors typically are the nature of the offense and the prisoner's history of showing up for court dates.

Beebout had been in the Clatsop County jail earlier in 2012, when he was arrested and served 30 days for failing to register as a sex offender, the Daily Astorian (http://bit.ly/13cySC9) reported.

Marquis said the registration requirement was a result of Beebout's conviction in California for sexually abusing a person younger than 16. Beebout served nearly four years in California. He had also served time in Illinois for theft.


Information from: The Daily Astorian, http://www.dailyastorian.com