Published 6:00 am Sunday, May 3, 2026 Bob Gilbert of Pacific Power & Light was clearing the intake grates of the Newport Avenue Dam on the morning of April 30, 1979. He found a white object in the water. He pulled it out. It was a human thigh. He called police. Other body parts were found in the Deschutes River over the next month. The body had been precisely dismembered with a knife. The torso was never found. The head was taken to St. Charles for X-rays for dental identification. It took a month to identify the body. Dental records from a Redmond dentist provided a match. The body parts were of Mary Jo Templeton. She was 49, though initial reports said her age was 47. She had worked as a waitress in Central Oregon. People described her as friendly. Her son told The Bend Bulletin she had a drinking problem. She had been married a few times. “She was trying to get herself back on her feet,” her son said. She was seen alive in Bend on April 24, 1979, according to reporting in the newspaper.…