01:35 PM PST on Saturday, January 17, 2004

By JIM PARKER, kgw.com Staff

A Turkish national was arrested after his arrival at Portland International Airport Friday on charges that he murdered a University of Portland coed nearly three years ago in a dorm room on campus, police said.

Deniz Aydiner, 30, a former UP student with family living in the Portland area, was taken into custody about 3 p.m. after he stepped off an arriving Lufthansa flight from Germany.

Deniz Aydiner. (Police mugshot)

Aydiner was jailed without bail Friday night at the Multnomah County Detention Center, charged with aggravated murder in the death of Catherine Mary Helen Johnson, 21 of Vancouver. He also faces charges of kidnapping, rape, sodomy and burglary.

DNA tests completed at the state crime lab last year linked Aydyner to the crime, Assistant police Chief Jim Ferraris told a news conference Friday night. He said a motive for the killing had not yet been determined.

"I did not expect this case to be solved... so for me it was a shock -- it was a surprise," said Edie Johnson, the victim's mother, upon learning of the arrest.

"Nothing will bring my daughter back but this chapter can be closed and perhaps this person won't hurt anyone ever again," she told reporters.

Catherine Johnson. (KGW file photo)

Johnson, a junior and music education major, was found murdered shortly after classes at the small, private Catholic university in North Portland let out for the summer. She had stayed behind as a building manager.

Ferraris said Aydiner was identified early in their investigation as a "person of interest" in the case.

Over the course of the murder probe, Ferraris said they collected DNA samples from a possible suspect list of up to 500 people -- including Aydiner. Police said tests of Aydiner's DNA, finally completed in the spring of 2003, connected him to the murder.

Police quickly obtained a warrant for his arrest after getting back the test results, but they discovered Aydiner had left the country and returned to his native Turkey, Ferraris said.

Aydiner was married to a U.S. citizen and had been living in north Portland, but police said he apparently departed shortly after Johnson's death.

Portland Police and the Johnson family during the news conference Friday night. (KGW Photo)

Ferraris said they questioned Aydiner after his arrest and then executed a search warrant at his former north Portland home, but did not reveal any details.

Detectives do not believe that any relationship existed between Aydiner and Johnson, but said the two were aquainted and had mutual friends. While Aydiner had been a student at UP too, officials said he was not enrolled at the time of Johnson's murder.

University officials late Friday expressed gratitude that an arrest had been made.

"We continue to grieve the loss of Kate and we'll always keep her in our prayers," said UP's president, Father Bill Beauchamp. "We are grateful for the Portland Police Bureau's ongoing dedication in pursuing this matter, and we're grateful that an arrest has been made."

Aydiner was scheduled to be arraigned in Multnomah County court on Tuesday. Assistant District Attorney Norm Frink was also expected to present the case soon to a grand jury and seek multiple indictments against Aydiner.

Police said they were not aware of any past criminal history involving Aydiner.