The tight-knit community of Milwaukie, Oregon, is reeling after learning that former Mayor Jeremy Ferguson and his wife, Mandy Zelinka, were found dead on April 21, 2026 inside their Venice, California, home in what authorities are describing as an apparent murder-suicide.
Ferguson served as Milwaukie’s mayor from two thousand nine to two thousand fifteen and was a familiar presence at ribbon-cuttings and community gatherings in the city of roughly twenty-one thousand residents just south of Portland. The violent deaths have left friends and former colleagues struggling to make sense of the tragedy.
Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department arrived at the couple’s residence on the six hundred block of Superba Avenue in Venice just before eleven a.m. after Ferguson emailed a suicide note to a friend, who rushed to the home and called police upon arrival. Both Ferguson and Zelinka were found dead from gunshot wounds, and a firearm was recovered at the scene.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) formally classified the deaths as a murder-suicide, confirming that Ferguson’s gunshot wound was self-inflicted. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner classified Zelinka’s death as homicide, noting she had been shot in the head. Authorities confirmed the discovery hours after officers arrived.
Career in Public Service
Ferguson spent nearly two decades working for TriMet, the Portland area’s regional transit agency, in addition to his tenure leading Milwaukie. During his time as mayor, he was known for engaging directly with constituents on issues ranging from downtown revitalization to public safety and parks investment. Colleagues remembered him as energetic and accessible, the kind of small-city mayor who answered his own emails and showed up at neighborhood meetings without an entourage.
After leaving office, Ferguson largely stepped out of the political spotlight, though he remained connected to civic life in the region. At the time of his death, he served as director of operations and placemaking for Downtown Santa Monica Inc., a nonprofit focused on economic development. He also served on the board of the Santa Monica History Museum.
Zelinka, forty-nine, a Portland native, was a well-known entrepreneur and stylist who co-founded and co-owned a salon in the city’s Pearl District. She was described by acquaintances as warm and devoted to her family. The couple had been married for years and were considered by those who knew them to be a stable, affectionate pair, making the circumstances of their deaths all the more difficult for friends to process.
Investigation Continues
The Los Angeles Police Department has not publicly identified a motive, and the medical examiner’s office is expected to release official cause of death determinations in the coming weeks. Toxicology reports in such cases routinely take months to complete. The LAPD’s investigation remains active, and detectives are expected to interview family members, friends and anyone who may have had contact with the couple in the days leading up to the deaths.
Few details about the circumstances of the couple’s deaths have been publicly released. Friends and former colleagues in Oregon described the news as shocking, saying they had not been aware of any acute crisis in the couple’s life.
Grief in Milwaukie
Word of the deaths spread quickly through Milwaukie and the broader Portland metro area. Current city officials, former council members and residents took to community forums and private messaging groups to share memories and express disbelief. Several residents said they planned to organize an informal vigil in the coming days, though no official memorial had been announced.
For a city that prides itself on its small-town feel — with its historic downtown, riverside trails and locally owned shops — the loss of a former mayor under such tragic circumstances has hit especially hard. Milwaukie, perched along the Willamette River, has in recent years wrestled with growth pressures, transportation challenges and the spillover effects of Portland’s ongoing struggles with housing and homelessness.
In Milwaukie, city leaders have so far declined to issue extensive public statements, citing respect for the families involved and the ongoing investigation. Privately, however, current and former officials have begun the difficult work of grieving a colleague whose public service once shaped the trajectory of their city.
Mental health advocates in Oregon used the moment to remind the public of the warning signs of domestic crisis and the resources available to those struggling. Experts have long noted that murder-suicides, while statistically rare, are devastating events that often leave families and communities searching for answers that may never fully come.
For now, the small Oregon community is left to grapple with a tragedy that began hundreds of miles away in California.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, help is available twenty-four hours a day by calling or texting nine eight eight, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Resources for those experiencing domestic violence are available through the National Domestic Violence Hotline at one-eight hundred-seven nine nine-seven two three three.
