Girl Vanished From Driveway, 2 Years Later a Public Restroom Gives a Disturbing Clue…

Clothing Found in Remote Forest Restroom Solves Two-Year-Old Child Abduction Case in Oregon

PORTLAND, Ore. — For nearly two years, Amanda Hart existed only as a photograph taped to streetlights and storefront windows across Oregon: a smiling four-year-old with painted cat whiskers and a pink sweatshirt, frozen in time on the afternoon she vanished from her family’s driveway.

On a quiet spring morning in 2017, in a forgotten public restroom deep within Mount Hood National Forest, that photograph finally found its answer.

The discovery of a small bundle of children’s clothing — pulled from a clogged squat toilet in an abandoned forest restroom — shattered one of Oregon’s most haunting cold cases and led investigators to the man responsible for Amanda’s disappearance and death.

A Disappearance in Plain Sight

Amanda Hart vanished on May 15, 2015, from the driveway of her family’s home on Sycamore Lane in a quiet Portland suburb. Her mother, Sabrina Hart, had allowed Amanda to play outside with sidewalk chalk while she stepped inside to prepare dinner and take a brief work call. When Amanda’s father, Rodney Hart, arrived home less than 30 minutes later, the driveway was empty.

The chalk drawings remained.

Within hours, local police, the FBI, and search-and-rescue teams flooded the neighborhood. A bloodhound traced Amanda’s scent to the edge of the street, where it abruptly stopped — indicating she had been taken by vehicle. A neighbor reported seeing an older white van driving slowly through the area, but no license plate or driver description could be obtained.

Despite statewide alerts, door-to-door canvassing, and thousands of volunteer search hours, Amanda was never found. Within weeks, the case went cold.

For Rodney and Sabrina Hart, life became a cycle of waiting and wondering. They left Amanda’s bedroom untouched. They built a website and maintained a social media page, posting pleas for information and marking birthdays that passed without answers.

“She was here one moment,” Sabrina later said, “and then she was just… gone.”

A Grisly Discovery in the Forest

In April 2017, Dave McCann, a seasonal maintenance worker for the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, was inspecting remote facilities in Mount Hood National Forest ahead of summer. One restroom — a concrete structure rarely used by the public — had reported plumbing issues.

Inside, McCann found the squat toilet completely clogged with stagnant water. When standard tools failed to clear the blockage, he used a hooked rod to pull out what was lodged inside.

What emerged was a tightly bundled mass of children’s clothing.

Among the items was a faded pink long-sleeved sweatshirt, blue shorts, and a small pair of girls’ underwear — deliberately wrapped together, as if weighted to sink. Disturbed by the find, McCann contacted the county sheriff.

The clothing was logged as evidence and brought to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, where it caught the attention of Detective Miles Corbin — the same investigator who had led the original search for Amanda Hart before transferring departments.

Corbin recognized the sweatshirt immediately.

“It was like seeing a ghost,” he later said. “I knew that shirt.”

The Case Breaks Open

The Harts were shown high-resolution photos of the recovered clothing. Sabrina identified the sweatshirt without hesitation, pointing out a small tear on the cuff she had once sewn with white thread. The stitching was still visible.

Forensic testing confirmed the clothes belonged to Amanda. Although DNA had been destroyed by prolonged water exposure, fiber degradation suggested the clothing had been placed in the toilet roughly one year earlier — long after Amanda’s disappearance.

This detail changed everything.

Investigators now believed the offender had returned to the area to dispose of evidence, indicating familiarity with Mount Hood National Forest and a lingering fear of discovery. Attention shifted to individuals connected both to the Harts’ neighborhood and to the forest.

One name resurfaced: Frank Miller.

A Neighbor Revisited

In 2015, Miller lived just three blocks from the Hart family. A quiet handyman with a minor criminal history, he had been interviewed early in the investigation but released due to lack of evidence. At the time, his nervous demeanor raised suspicion, but nothing tied him directly to the crime.

Now, detectives uncovered a critical connection: Miller’s deceased grandparents owned a small, dilapidated cabin on private land deep within Mount Hood National Forest — less than five miles from the restroom where Amanda’s clothes were found.

Records also showed Miller had abruptly moved out of Portland six months after Amanda disappeared.

A search warrant was issued for the cabin.

Inside, investigators found little at first — until a loose floorboard revealed a small plastic hair clip shaped like a cartoon cat. Sabrina identified it as Amanda’s favorite.

Within days, Miller was arrested at his home in eastern Oregon.

A Confession and Recovery

During interrogation, Miller initially denied involvement. But when detectives presented the evidence — maps, photographs, and the hair clip — he broke down.

Miller confessed to abducting Amanda in a moment of impulse, driving her to the family cabin, and holding her there for two days. He admitted to sexually assaulting her and said she died when he covered her mouth to stop her from screaming as she tried to escape.

He led investigators to a shallow grave in the forest where Amanda’s remains were recovered.

“She was never forgotten,” Detective Corbin said. “She waited for us to find her.”

Justice and Aftermath

Frank Miller was charged with kidnapping and aggravated murder. At trial, prosecutors dismantled the defense’s claim that the killing was accidental, pointing to Miller’s deliberate actions before and after the crime — including the attempt to dispose of evidence.

The jury deliberated for less than six hours.

Miller was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

For Rodney and Sabrina Hart, the verdict brought no relief — only an end to uncertainty.

“The hope was torture,” Rodney said quietly after the trial. “The truth is unbearable. But now we know.”

The couple later moved to a small coastal town and dedicated a memorial bench to Amanda overlooking a playground. The forest restroom where the clothing was found has since been demolished.

Nature is slowly reclaiming the site.

But the story of Amanda Hart — and the small pink sweatshirt that refused to disappear — remains a stark reminder of how even the smallest clue, discovered in the most forgotten place, can speak for a child who no longer can.