Portland police made an arrest Thursday in the death of a woman found strangled in a northwest Portland apartment.
Officers said they found the body of 51-year-old Virginia Malvey after being called to the Yards at Union Station Apartments on Northwest Naito Parkway at about 11:10 p.m. Wednesday. Emergency dispatchers had just received a 911 call from the victim's friends regarding Malvey's body inside one of the apartments.
Late Thursday night, police arrested 51-year-old James Taft on charges he strangled Malvey. He was booked into the Multnomah County Jail.
There's no word on the circumstances surrounding the crime or whether Taft and Malvey knew each other.
Kelsey Sparks, who lives at the apartment complex, said she noticed the police activity Wednesday night. She described the building as secure.
"It's pretty safe around here," she said. "We have keys to get in and really nobody else can get in."
Gordon Nyhus also lives in the building where Malvey's body was found and said he heard a commotion Wednesday night.
"We heard lots of yelling and hollering and that kind of stuff," Nyhus said. "Then we heard there was murder, but we live on the third floor. We didn't know what was happening, much."
It's the second homicide in the area in a one-week span.
Another woman was found strangled earlier this week in the Helen Swindell's Building on Broadway Street near downtown Portland. Detectives said they do not believe the incidents are related.
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Portland's Afternoon News