"That's the kind of person she was. She was extremely trusting and willing to help anyone who needed help," said Leslie Ortiz, a friend of the victim.
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Ortiz and Justin Misner say they first met Judy Hurley last spring when they were looking to buy her home on North Syracuse Street in the St. Johns neighborhood.
"Judy was in a pretty bad spot," Misner said.
The couple says Hurley was bedridden and people were living in her house without her permission and stealing from her.
"There were people that would just come to the house to essentially use as a base of operations to commit crime such as, with like stealing cars or stealing like, and there were cases of people squatting in the house that she didn't know about," Misner said.
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With no family in the picture, the young couple ended up becoming the closest people to her.
"Helping her move out of this home and into a retirement home as well as helping her with going to doctors' appointments and finding care and that sort of thing. We grew really attached. She would tell us that she loved us and told us that she thought we were family that we were the only ones that like really, actually helped her the last couple years," Misner said.
After Hurley left the retirement home to seek medical help, the couple says they lost contact with her and had not heard from her or about her since the fall. That was, until this week.
"Nobody deserves to go that way, regardless of your history," Ortiz said.
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Multnomah County deputies say the 80-year-old was killed on Monday, and her body was found inside a suitcase on the banks of the Willamette River on Sauvie Island.
"I was disgusted, and it's horrible," Ortiz said.
"It's hard to hear about any passing in general, but to hear how she passed is really heartbreaking. I believe that she was just a really kind person that just got taken advantage of," Misner said.
After gathering evidence to establish probable cause, 54-year-old Michael Moody, who has a criminal history, was arrested on Monday at an apartment complex in north Portland.
Moody is expected in court on March 3.
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