The Oregonian Asks Readers to “Help Agent Cooper solve this mystery” in April 1990

In the weeks following the debut of Twin Peaks on the ABC Television network on April 8, 1990, the entire nation was asking, “Who killed Laura Palmer?” Before April ended, The Oregonian asked readers on April 26, 1990 who they thought was the killer. Like many papers at the time, they encouraged fans to don their detective hats and help Special Agent Dale Cooper solve the mystery.

THE OREGONIAN – “HELP AGENT COOPER SOLVE THE MYSTERY!” | APRIL 26, 1990

This feature about David Lynch and Mark Frost’s show appeared in the Living section of The Oregonian on Thursday, April 26, 1990. This was the same day that episode 1.003 aired on ABC.

The first story by Michelle Stein asked readers “whodunit” in the small town where a young girl was found dead and everyone was a suspect. The article includes a photo of Special Agent Dale Cooper played by Kyle MacLachlan.

The one-armed man did it.

Absolutely. Positively. Without a doubt.

OK. So maybe he didn’t do it. Maybe the sicko psychiatrist who knows the deepest depths of Laura Palmer’s soul did it. Or maybe looney Leo Johnson who whips his wife with a sock-swinging bar of soap did it.

Or maybe just maybe the log lady did it.

She said her log knew information. Maybe the log wants to turn her in.

If that’s the case, FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper will surely discover the truth. He’s discovered every other clever clue in “Twin Peaks,” the latest and the greatest in television detective fiction.

In case you’ve missed it — in case you’ve wistfully been wishing you’d watched the show all your friends are talking about — “Twin Peaks” is a sophisticated television soap opera that began with a two-hour pilot April 8. The show since has aired at 9 p.m. Thursdays on KATU (2), and will continue in this time slot for the next four weeks.

The show is not exactly for everyone. Actually, it’s downright weird. Which explains why the show has dropped from its No. 5 spot for its premiere to No. 28 last week.
But, hey, David Lynch (“Blue Velvet”) and Mark Frost (“Hill Street Blues”) never expected to be No. 1. “Twin Peaks” is their attempt to do something on television that has never been done before.

The story continued on a separate page with the headline: “Peaks: Everyone has a different idea about it.”

And, say those who love it, the creative duo have not just succeeded.

They’ve soared.

“I just can’t stop talking about it,” said Carmen Erickson, a Portland hairdresser. “Everybody who comes in, I ask if they’ve watched it. Everybody has a different idea about what’s happening. About who did it.”

Whoever did it, did it in Twin Peaks, a fictitious town located in Washington, five miles south of the Canadian border and 12 miles west of the Idaho border. It is here, deep among the Douglas firs, that a local homecoming queen named Laura Palmer is raped and murdered by heaven knows who. Another local girl also is raped and tortured, but lives and is found walking on railroad tracks in Canada.

That’s when Cooper is called. And that’s when the story really starts cracking. This guy’s sleuthing skills are uncanny; he not only sniffs out clues, he dreams about them.

So far viewers have been treated to four hours of fact unfolding and no clear-cut suspect has emerged. Sure, Leo Johnson is a scuzzball, but he’s just too obvious. Frost and Lynch just want us to THINK Leo did it.

Of course, Cooper led us to believe that he knows who did it. That’s what he said after waking from his utterly bizarre dream last Thursday night. In the dream a woman who looks like Laura Palmer — but claims she is her cousin —kisses Cooper and then whispers in his ear.

What she whispered is what everybody wants to know. Is the murderer Bobby Briggs, her cheating boyfriend? Or is it Benjamin Horne, the I-get-what-I-want owner of the Great Northern Hotel?

Or how about Jocelyn Packard? True, she’s dating the sheriff, but she hasn’t been in town too long. Maybe she belongs to a satanic cult operated by a one-armed man.

Speaking of the one-armed man, what did his little talk mean last week when he said: “Through the darkness of future past, the magician longs to see, one chance house between two worlds, fire walk with me.”

Fire, walk with me. Those were the words scrawled in blood on the train where Laura Palmer and the other local girl were hurt.

The one-armed man even identified himself — as Mike — and then, still in Cooper’s dream, found the long-haired guy who keeps appearing in the visions of Laura Palmer’s mother. His name is Bob.

Bob, apparently, likes to kill. “I promise.” he says in the dream. “I’ll kill again.”

Now, remember that the letter R was found beneath Laura Palmer’s left ring finger. Bob is a nickname for Robert. Maybe Bob did it.

The truth is, nobody knows for sure who did it. But we’ll find out.

I love how Stein calls out Bob being a nickname for “Robert” which we will learn in the second season as more letters are uncovered (R-B-T).

Stein included some thoughts from local OR-E-GON viewers about who they thought killed Laura Palmer. I wonder if any of them are still fans of the show.

DAVE KUKLA
Advertising, Portland
“I think the psychiatrist did it. The way they ended the second episode, when he was listening on the tape, it just left me with the intuition that he did it. I think he was in love with Laura Palmer and he didn’t want any other men to have her.”

BONNIE DARVES
Writer, Tigard
“I thought about the former boyfriend, Bobby, because he seemed so obviously evil. But that seems too pat. So the other ones that keep coming to mind are the parents of Bobby, specifically his mother, who is such a weird character.”

KEVIN BURNS
Accountant, Beaverton
“What about the FBI guy, Cooper? H showed up out of nowhere. What’s he doing there, anyway? Maybe he goes around the state killing people. Or maybe it’s the sheriff. He seems like he’s surprised about everything. But maybe he’s just acting.”

JENNIFER WARREN
Student, Portland
*I think the guy with the long hair – the guy in the FBI guy’s dream – had something to do with it. He seems real spooky. Or what about the guy who drives the truck (Leo)? He’s pretty mean.”

CHRIS GOLSAN
Electronics technician, Aloha
“I have no idea who did it. I kind of think it’s the one crazy guy (Leo). But there are some things that point towards the doctor. I’m just not sure.”

CARMEN ERICKSON
Hairdresser, Portland
“I think (Leo) the trucker guy did it. Maybe because it’s so obvious.”
“I think she (Laura) had something to do with witchcraft. Maybe she got into something a little deeper than fun and games. You don’t really know what went on in that train. But it looks pretty weird to me.”

The middle section of the paper includes headshots of Twin Peaks cast, divided into three categories – The Victim (Laura Palmer), The Investigators, and The Prime Suspects. The headshots are a variety of publicity photos taken during production.

THE VICTIM

LAURA PALMER
She was a high school cheerleader. She was smart, sexy, and everybody loved her. But did they really know her? In the days following her death, investigators discovered $10,000 and skin magazines in her safe deposit box. Was Laura a hooker, working at One-Eyed Jack’s casino in Canada Or was she a schizophrenic who lost her soul in the forests of Twin Peaks? Her psychiatrist knows the truth. But will he tell?

THE INVESTIGATORS

SPECIAL AGENT DALE COOPER
He likes Douglas firs. He likes jelly donuts. He likes his coffee black as midnight on a moonless night. Fortunately for the folks of Twin Peaks, this special agent of the FBI also likes solving crimes. Who else could have spotted James Hurley’s motorcycle in the videotaped reflection of Laura Palmer’s eye? But does he really know the identity of Laura Palmer’s killer? Or did he just have a bad dream?

SHERIFF HARRY S. TRUMAN
The mild-mannered sheriff seems to know everything about everybody in Twin Peaks – everything except the fact the perfect Laura Palmer wasn’t all that perfect. Each time Agent Cooper uncovers a new clue, Truman’s hatted head shakes in disbelief. He’s not real sure what’s going on — but he’s sure (or at least he hopes) Cooper knows more than he does.

FORENSICS EXPERT ALBERT ROSENFIELD
Agent Cooper warns Sheriff Truman that FBI man Albert Rosenfield is lacking in social skills. And, indeed, he is. His first words to Cooper and Truman are: “What kind of two-bit operation are they running out of this treehouse?” Truman bites his tongue, but later gives Rosenfield a tart piece of his mind. So far, Rosenfield has had little screen time, but his discoveries are sure to pepper the pot of suspects.

THE PRIME SUSPECTS

CATHERINE MARTELL
This witch of a woman will do anything to wrest the Packard sawmill away from her brother’s widow. Jocelyn Packard — maybe even commitmurder. You have to wonder, why is she so bitterly jealous?

JOCELYN PACKARD
She inherited Packard Mill from her dead husband. Seems innocent, but in the series’ opening scene — moments before Laura Palmer’s body is discovered – she smiles mysteriously as she paints her lips.

LEO JOHNSON
The drug-dealing truck driver is the most obvious suspect. He returns from Butte too soon, a shirt is stained with blood, an he’s not a nice guy. But maybe he’s just a decoy.

AUDREY HORNE
The saddle-shoed girl is an acquaintance of Laura’s who seems oddly pleased by her death. But Audrey’s family is anything but normal, which could explain her extremely odd behavior.

SHELLY JOHNSON
The waitress is a saint for sticking with her sicko husband, Leo, but she’s also fooling around with Laura Palmer’s beau, Bobby Briggs. Maybe she picked off Palmer to have Bobby for herself.

DR. JACOBY
Highly eccentric, he is the town’s only practicing psychiatrist — and possibly knows too many secrets. wihout a doubt he knew about Laura’s other life. But just how involved was he?

ED HURLEY
The good-natured gas station owner has a better motive for killing his drape-daffy wife, Nadine, than Laura Palmer. But who spiked Ed’s drink before he brawled at the Road House?

NADINE HURLEY
The woman with the patch over her eye is certainly missing a screw or two. She seems more concerned about inventing silent curtain rods than killing anyone. But who knows….

JAMES HURLEY
The biker was among the last to see Laura Palmer alive. Soon after her death he buried the other half of the heart necklace she gave him – and fell in love with Donna Hayward.

NORMA JENNINGS
The waitress works hard at the Double R diner, but maybe that’s because her ne’er-do-will-husband, Hank, is in jail, and the man she really loves, Ed Hurley, is married to another .

DONNA HAYWARD
Laura Palmer’s best friend, she obviously was on torn over Laura’s death. But before Laura is even buried, Donna and James Hurley — Laura’s secret boyfriend — fall in love. 

BENJAMIN HORNE
An obvious wheeler-dealer, he owns half of Twin Peaks and apparently does what he wants — including, possibly, murder. Did he know the other side of Laura Palmer: And did he dance with her?

BOBBY BRIGGS
This teen troublemaker can’t make up his mind whom he loves. First he says he LOVES Laura, then he’s kissing Shelly Johnson. Worst of all the hothead is involved in a drug deal with loser Leo Johnson.

BOB, THE LONG-HAIRED WEIRDO
This wild-looking man appears in visions seen by Laura Palmer’s mother, then in Agent Cooper’s dream, where he promises he will kill again. Was Laura involved with two Bobs? 

MIKE, THE ONE-ARMED MAN
Sporting a gray beard and missing an arm, he shows up twice: at the hospital where victim Ronette Polanski is recuperating, and in Special Agent Cooper’s dream.

The final mini section in the newspaper article features some Twin Peaks trivia about the real Twin Peaks of Snoqualmie Valley and the International Pilot available on VHS in European countires.

TUNING IN: “Twin Peaks” airs from 9-10 p.m. Thursdays on KATU (2). Episode No. 4 airs this week; three more will follow. ABC-TV hasn’t yet decided if the series will continue in the fall.

INTRIGUE ABROAD: If you can’t wait to find out Laura Palmer’s killer, catch a plane to Belgium, Bolivia, Switzerland or any of the 10 other countries where a cassette of “Twin Peaks” is available for rental or sale. A word of caution: The show’s producers won’t say whether the killer is the same at home and abroad.

LISTEN HARD: Words are so warbled in the dream sequence featured in last week’s episode that subtitles were needed. The weird, alienating effect was obtained by use of a computer-distort-ed soundtrack — that at times is played in reverse.

NO SUCH TOWN: Don’t look for Twin Peaks on a Washington state highway map — it’s not there. But if you drive north on Interstate 5, get off 25 miles southeast of Seattle and climb into the Cascades, you’ll find the next best thing. In North Bend (pop. 2,275) you’ll spot the Mar T Cafe, which is the Double R Diner in the show. Next door is the Last Trading Post and Loan, where the show’s stuffed animal heads were rented. And two miles up the road is Snoqualmie (pop. 1,515), where you can spot a 39-ton log – called “The Big Log” – featured in the show’s opening credits. One mile north of town are the 268-foot Snoqualmie Falls and the Salish Lodge, featured in the show as the Great Northern Hotel, where FBI Dale Cooper finds a room for “a reasonable rate.” 

It’s interesting to note the Last Trading Post and Loan, a former downtown North Bend, Washington shop. Stein states the show’s “stuffed animal heads were rented” at that location. That’s the first time I’ve heard such a thing so more research is required.

The “Big Log” mentioned is actually the Centennial Log located in downtown Snoqualmie, Washington. The Twin Peaks production team provided money to help construct a cover now found around the log.