Charles Thomas Mooney Remembered Five Years After Homicide Investigation Began in Albany, Oregon
Charles Thomas Mooney died in Albany in 2021; arrests followed, and two defendants were later convicted in connection with his homicide.
The Albany, Oregon, community continues to remember Charles Thomas Mooney, whose life ended tragically on June 2, 2021, at the age of 38. His death began a homicide investigation that would continue through subsequent years and eventually lead authorities to announce arrests in connection with the case. For those who knew Mooney, the passage of time has not erased the loss or the questions surrounding his final days.
Public obituary records identify Mooney as an Albany resident and list his dates of life as August 21, 1982, and June 2, 2021. Funeral arrangements were handled by AAsum-Dufour Funeral Home, according to obituary information. While those records preserve basic details of his life, the circumstances of his death became the focus of a significant investigation after authorities were called to a property west of Albany.
On the morning of June 2, 2021, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a death on Willoway Drive. Deputies responding to the location found Mooney deceased, prompting detectives to begin investigating the circumstances as a homicide. Authorities said at the time that there was no continuing threat to the public, but the discovery immediately raised questions about what had happened and who was responsible.
The investigation produced its first major development several weeks later. On July 19, 2021, authorities announced the arrest of Tennisha Quin Bourne, 34, of Albany, whom investigators identified as Mooney’s former girlfriend. According to the sheriff’s office, investigators determined that Bourne had been involved in Mooney’s death, and she was arrested on a warrant charging second-degree murder. The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office located her following an unrelated call.
The case did not end with Bourne’s arrest. On March 1, 2022, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office announced that Billy Jack Robinson, 41, of Washington state, had also been arrested in connection with Mooney’s death. Investigators said they determined Robinson had been involved and obtained a warrant charging him with second-degree murder. Robinson was located in Port Orchard, Washington, and taken into custody without incident before facing extradition to Oregon.
Those arrests marked significant developments in a case that began with the discovery of Mooney’s body on Willoway Drive. The investigation crossed state lines as authorities pursued information and located suspects outside Oregon, demonstrating the continuing work involved in a homicide case that did not end with the initial discovery. For Mooney’s family and friends, however, each investigative development existed alongside the much more personal reality of losing someone they knew and cared about.
Mooney was only 38 when his life was cut short, leaving family members, friends, and others in the Albany area to mourn a person whose future suddenly disappeared. The official details of the case provide a timeline of investigations and arrests, but they cannot fully capture the personal impact of his death. Years later, memories of Charles remain with those who knew him, even as the case continues to be associated with the events surrounding his final day.
The death of Charles Thomas Mooney remains a painful chapter for those connected to him and a case that began with a discovery that shocked the Albany community. His life is remembered beyond the homicide investigation, while the arrests that followed remain important milestones in the search for accountability. More than five years after his death, Mooney’s name continues to represent a life lost far too soon and a family left to carry his memory forward.
