Union County Murder Trial Set for 2023 Camp Riverbend Escapee

Jesus Armando Pena Jr., 20, who ran away from Oregon Youth Authority’s Camp Riverbend during a supervised outing to Eastern Oregon University on Dec. 6, 2023, is scheduled for a 12-person jury trial Feb. 9, 2026 on a second-degree murder charge tied to the January 2024 slaying of 51-year-old Justin William Keaton at a Medford laundromat. Court records list a trial readiness hearing for Pena Jr. on Feb. 2 ahead of the jury trial.

Pena Jr. was committed to the Oregon Youth Authority in January 2018 from Jackson County after a third-degree assault charge, and was placed at Camp Riverbend, the OYA step-down facility on Highway 244 outside La Grande that houses youth preparing for community transition. The supervised outing that preceded his escape involved youths attending an open gym at Eastern Oregon University.

Oregon Youth Authority records show staff immediately notified law enforcement after Pena Jr.’s Dec. 6 disappearance and a warrant was issued. Authorities say he remained at large for nearly two months before his capture; court documents do not list the exact arrest date in the materials available. Medford-area investigators executed search warrants at two locations as part of the inquiry, and police releases sought public help locating the escapee while detectives gathered evidence.

The homicide charge ties Pena Jr. to the Jan. 2024 killing of Justin William Keaton at a Medford laundromat. Officials have not released the laundromat’s name in the public records provided here, and the charging documents circulating in court records identify the count as second-degree murder. Additional case filings and docket entries will determine whether the charge proceeded to trial on Feb. 9 or whether other resolutions were reached at the Feb. 2 readiness hearing.

Camp Riverbend is one of four OYA step-down transitional facilities in Oregon; agency descriptions indicate residents at such sites have made “significant progress” in treatment and are frequently placed out in communities for work and other opportunities. The escape and subsequent homicide allegation have thrust those policies into sharper focus for local law enforcement and OYA oversight, particularly given that other Camp Riverbend-related escapes were reported in the region earlier in the year.

A separate escape from Camp Riverbend on June 20 involved two 18-year-olds, Micah West and Brittain McAuliffe; Albany Police detained West and he was transferred to the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, and state police allege a marked state parks Ford F250 was stolen from Emigrant Springs State Park on June 24 in that episode. Those incidents remain distinct from the Pena Jr. matter in court filings.

Court records list the Feb. 2 readiness hearing and the Feb. 9 12-person jury trial as the next formal dates in Pena Jr.’s case; further filings, official police releases and courtroom minutes will provide the verdicts, sentencing details and agency names involved in the capture and investigation.