For decades, double murderer Warren Forrest terrorized Washington.
Now, a woman has shared her harrowing encounter with the serial killer and revealed how she managed to escape.
The making of a monster
For decades, Warren Forrest, a convicted double murderer, cast a shadow of fear across the state of Washington.
Now, a new true-crime podcast, Stolen Voices of Dole Valley, has shed light on Forrest’s crimes and the horrifying experiences of his survivors. One woman, Norma Countryman, has come forward to share her close call — and how sheer determination saved her life.
Warren Forrest was born on June 29, 1949, in Vancouver, Washington, the younger of two brothers.
He attended Fort Vancouver High School, where he captained the track and field team, before being drafted alongside his older brother Marvin during the Vietnam War. Forrest served as a fire control crewman at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida.
After returning home, Forrest married his high school sweetheart Sharon Ann Hart in 1969.
The couple had two children and moved around, briefly enrolling in a conservation program in California before settling in Battle Ground, Washington, where Forrest worked for the Clark County Parks Department.
The arrest that finally stopped him
On October 2, 1974, Forrest was arrested for kidnapping, rape, and attempted murder after assaulting a 20-year-old woman he lured under the guise of a photoshoot.
He drove her to a city park, assaulted and tortured her, shot her with an air-powered dart gun, and stabbed her six times near Lacamas Lake before leaving her for dead. Miraculously, the victim survived.
Once stable, she described her attacker and his vehicle in detail: a blue 1973 Ford van. She also recalled that he had casually greeted several park employees while driving through the area. Since the park fell under the Parks Department’s jurisdiction, investigators initially suspected one of the employees and began checking alibis.
Their investigation quickly pointed to Forrest. He had called in sick the day of the attack, owned a matching blue 1973 Ford van, and fit the victim’s description. Police secured a search warrant for his home and vehicle, uncovering jewelry and clothing fragments belonging to the 20-year-old survivor.
When shown a photograph, she immediately identified Forrest as her attacker. Unable to provide a credible alibi, Forrest was arrested and charged later that same day.
Soon after, investigators also linked Forrest to the kidnapping of a 15-year-old girl earlier that summer. That woman was Norma Countryman.
Norma Countryman’s story
Norma Countryman had a terrifying encounter with Warren Forrest in July 1974.
It was a sweltering July day in 1974 when she sat by the side of the road in Ridgefield, Washington, smoking a cigarette and trying to figure out a way to escape the abuse at home.
Soon, a shiny blue van pulled up, and the man inside, with piercing blue eyes, began talking to her. At first, she hesitated, unsure if she should get in — but eventually, she accepted his offer for a ride.
“A fateful decision,” she told The Columbian. “Stupid; get into a van with a stranger when you’re not supposed to, and that’s what I did.”
On the Stolen Voices of Dole Valley podcast, host Carolyn Ossorio shared:
”He just kept slowly pressuring, pushing, manipulating,” Ossorio recalls. ”But he didn’t appear threatening. And it was a ride that would forever change her life.”
Once inside, Forrest pulled a knife on Norma, drove her to a secluded area near Tukes Mountain, punched her, gagged her with her bra, and tied her to two trees.
He also took her glasses.
Left alone, Norma feared Forrest would return to finish the attack.
“At one point … I heard noise in the woods behind me, sounding like someone was looking for something but trying to be quiet,” she said. “I bet I stood there for two hours after the sounds stopped and didn’t move, just waiting, scared to death that he was waiting to hear me move.”
She spent the entire night struggling to free her hands from the ropes. With incredible courage, she chewed through the ropes binding her.
”The first thought that came to me was, if he comes back and finds me like this, he really will kill me,” she recalled in Stolen Voices of Dole Valley.
Didn’t believe her
Norma survived the night in the wilderness, and a park employee found her the next morning. The rope had left a burn running across her face.
“I had chewed half of my lips off trying to get the ropes off,” she said.
But when the police arrived, they didn’t believe her.
Ossorio explained the devastating consequences:
”The police were called, and she wasn’t believed. And if she had been, two other women most likely would not have been murdered. Norma had to live with that.”
Countryman kept her story private for nearly 20 years.
Over time, it became clear just how close she had come to becoming one of Forrest’s victims. Ossorio describes the long-term impact:
”You can really see the damage it caused Norma. She lived with it her entire life and was never offered therapy. You can see the layers of trauma.”
Despite decades passing, the families of Forrest’s victims continue to fight for answers. Ossorio emphasizes their determination:
”Warren Forrest got away with so much,” she told Fox News Digital. ”He flew under the radar for years. The survivors and the victims’ families want this reckoning. They want justice.”
”Listening to these stories will make you sad, but they will also inspire you. These are people who are fighting for justice, for answers. And through trauma, they’ve leaned on each other. It’s a story of not giving up.”
Forrest has been behind bars since 1974.
He was convicted of murdering 20-year-old Krista Blake in 1978 and, in 2023, found guilty of the 1974 murder of 17-year-old Martha Morrison. Investigators continue to review unsolved cases potentially connected to Forrest, including the 1974 death of 20-year-old Carol Valenzuela.
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