An 86-year-old retired Seventh-day Adventist pastor has been identified as a suspect in the decades-old homicide of his second wife, while investigators on the other side of the United States continue looking into the similarly reclassified 1972 death of his first wife.
Last month, police in Gresham, Oregon, named John Thomas Bridges, of Sheldon, Missouri, a suspect in the July 2, 1993, death of 45-year-old Astrid Bridges, his late wife, according to police.
“Over the past several weeks, detectives from the Gresham Police Department travelled to John Bridges’ current residence in Missouri, where they conducted interviews and served a search warrant,” a July 30 statement from the department reads.
The investigation was reopened following a “re-examination” of the evidence in Astrid Bridges’ death, which was initially ruled as accidental, according to Gresham Police Chief Travis Gullberg.
“Thanks to the combined impacts of the voter-approved Police and Fire levy, our work with the Gresham Police Officer’s Association to hire additional detectives, and our patrol division’s efforts, including the Ceasefire initiative, to reduce ongoing crime, we are now able to assign these important cases for active investigation,” Gullberg said in a July 9 statement.
Meanwhile, on July 24, the Louisville Metro Police Department’s Cold Case Unit announced an active investigation into the July 5, 1972, death of Bridges’ first wife, Joyce “Mable” Bridges. According to police, the victim was found unresponsive in her residence in the 3800 block of Bent Oak Court by her husband and transported to Pewee Valley Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
There was no initial police or EMS involvement, and the body was later taken to a funeral home.
Investigators from Gresham have been in contact with detectives from the Louisville Metro Police Department.
Police say Mable Bridges was exhumed in 2015 for an autopsy, which later determined the death was a homicide.
“Mable’s homicide is actively being investigated by LMPD Homicide’s Cold Case Unit. They are desirous to interview anyone who has information related to this investigation or knew the Bridges family,” the post stated.
Bridges has not been arrested or charged in either case. Louisville police have not named Bridges as a suspect in that investigation.
According to a July 29 KGW report, investigators believe the “evidence right now points pretty heavily” toward Bridges in the Astrid Bridges case, though any related criminal charges are not imminent.
“We’re not going to rush to judgement; we’re going to complete the investigative steps and follow all of the evidence wherever it leads,” Gresham Police Detective Adam Wright told the local NBC affiliate.
As investigators learn more, there’s increased confidence that at least one of these cold cases will soon be resolved.
“While cold case homicides present unique challenges, I am confident we will be able to get justice for Astrid,” said Gresham Police lead Det. Tyson Conroy.
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