How Two Sisters Died Under the Same Guardian in Rural Oregon—and Why No One Stopped It
An investigation based on court records, billing documents, and public filings from Baker County Circuit Court Cases 24PR00094 and 24PR00095
On November 26, 2025, Annie McSheery-Bood drove to Old Souls Farm, picked up a jug of raw milk, and delivered it to her cousin Jean McSherry at Memory Lane Care Center in Baker City, Oregon. She billed Jean's estate 1.5 hours at $100 per hour—$150—plus $22.40 for mileage. Then, according to her billing records, she "cancelled autopay for Old Souls for December."
Nine days later, Jean was dead.
The milk deliveries had been a fixture of Annie's billing for months—37 documented trips between April and November 2025. Most were billed at one hour ($100), plus mileage (roughly $22 per trip). The estate paid Old Souls Farm $20 per delivery for the milk itself. At approximately $122 per typical delivery for milk that cost $20, the estate paid thousands for the service.
But the November 26 entry stands apart. It's the only one where Annie noted she cancelled the next month's order. According to her own billing records, Jean had been "not doing well" since at least November 10. Hospice had been called on November 17. The evaluation was scheduled for November 21.
Annie kept delivering milk—and billing for it—right up until nine days before the end.
Jean and Jayne McSherry were born in 1951 and spent most of their lives in Portland. They shared a church community and a circle of friends—some of whom had known them for over 40 years. Jayne married and took the name Peters. In their later years, the sisters lived together and looked after one another.
In early January 2024, their cousin Annie McSheery-Bood drove them 298 miles east to her property in Haines, Oregon—a town of 415 people in Baker County. Friends would later describe the move as sudden and unexplained.
On January 17, 2024, Annie filed emergency guardianship petitions for both sisters in Baker County Circuit Court. The petitions established venue based solely on the fact that the twins were "currently present" in the county. Judge Matthew Shirtcliff granted emergency temporary appointments the same day. He also waived the bond requirement—the primary financial safeguard against fiduciary misconduct—despite the sisters' combined assets exceeding half a million dollars.
The day after the emergency petitions were filed, retired Circuit Judge Gregory Baxter—appointed by Judge Shirtcliff as court visitor—interviewed Jayne at St. Alphonsus Hospital. According to Baxter's report dated January 18, 2024, Jayne had been brought to the emergency room following what he described as a "physical altercation" at Annie's home.
According to court records, Baxter documented that Jayne was "adamant that she did not want a guardian."
The next day, January 19, Nurse Practitioner Kerma Luann Cook examined Jayne and diagnosed her with "advanced dementia." She referred Jayne to hospice with a prognosis of less than one year to live. Court visitor Baxter noted this was "a significant decline in her cognitive abilities during the past three months."
Here the court records present a discrepancy. Annie's sworn Supplemental Declaration, filed months later, states that on January 19, 2024, "Jayne stabbed me with a protractor... The nurse I was on the phone with called 911. Jayne was transported to the hospital and soon admitted to Memory Lane."
But Baxter had already interviewed Jayne at the hospital on January 18—the day before Annie claims the stabbing occurred. If the stabbing on January 19 is what put Jayne in the hospital, why was she already there on January 18 for a "physical altercation"?
Either there were two separate incidents on consecutive days, the dates in Annie's sworn declaration are incorrect, or the sequence of events was not as presented to the court.
What is clear from the record: on January 18, Jayne was "adamant" about not wanting a guardian. By January 19, she had been diagnosed with "advanced dementia" and referred to hospice. The court visitor recommended guardianship anyway.
Months later, at a June 2024 hearing, Annie testified about the twins' wishes. According to a recording of the proceeding, Annie told the court that the sisters had asked her to "keep their dignity" if anything ever happened to them. She then described the day paramedics came for Jayne:
"Jayne, when she was taken away with the paramedics, she walked out of the house and she only had a T-shirt on. And that was to her belly button. She was naked from the waist down."
Melody Weaver, listening to the hearing by phone, whispered her reaction: "She wouldn't let her put her pants on."
The implication was clear to those who knew what had happened: Annie had kept Jayne in a state of undress when the paramedics arrived, creating documentation of an incapacitated woman who couldn't dress herself. The paramedics would record what they saw. That documentation would support the emergency petition filed days later.
As Annie finished her testimony about dignity, Melody whispered again: "She's manipulating."
On January 31, 2024—before receiving permanent appointment—Annie advanced herself $5,000 from Jean's estate without court approval. She later sought ratification of this self-payment.
On February 5, Judge Shirtcliff made Annie the permanent guardian and conservator for both sisters. Bond was again waived. The Declaration of Mailing filed February 7, 2024, listing recipients of the permanent appointment notice, did not include Lynn McSherry—the twins' only brother.
Within days, Annie imposed what court records describe as "no contact" orders at Memory Lane Care Center, blocking the twins from their Portland friends, their church community, and their pastors. Friends later testified the isolation began within one week of Annie becoming guardian.
Jayne Peters died on April 7, 2024—a Sunday. It was 79 days after her hospice referral and 81 days after the emergency petition was filed.
Lynn McSherry was never notified of the proceedings. He was never told his sister was dying. According to court documents, he learned of Jayne's death through social media, from strangers. One family member later testified: "We learned—without any prior notice—that Jayne had passed away. At no point were we contacted by Annie regarding their condition or Jayne's death."
Annie later acknowledged in court proceedings that she knew Lynn existed. His contact information was in Jean's phone. When Court Visitor Marita Somerville asked during an October 2024 interview why Lynn was never notified about the original guardianship petitions, Annie's response was documented in Somerville's report:
"It never even occurred to me. I had no idea how to contact him or where he was. He called [Protected Person] once to say he'd moved to Gold Beach. I'm shocked that he's been living that close to his sisters house and no one knew."
Lynn lived in Gold Beach—a five-hour drive from Portland, but closer than Baker City. His sisters had his phone number. Annie had access to that phone.
Under Oregon law (ORS 125.060), notice of guardianship proceedings must be provided to "the person or persons most closely related to the respondent" when there is no spouse, parent, or adult child. Lynn was the twins' only sibling.
Four days after Jayne died, the court appointed attorney Emily Cooper of Disability Rights Oregon as attorney of record for Jayne. The procedural purpose of appointing counsel for a deceased person was not explained in the filings.
Between April 17 and 20, Annie's attorney Darcy Kindschy billed Jayne's estate $870 for "dealing with" friends' visitation request letters. The friends were asking to see someone who had been dead for over a week.
On April 29, Annie filed her final accounting for Jayne's estate. Judge Shirtcliff approved payouts of $24,869.02 the following day:
Total amount withdrawn or expended from Jayne's estate during the 105-day proceeding: $51,910.84.
On May 1, 2024, a Supplemental Judgment discharged Annie and closed the estate. Jayne's remaining assets—her share of the Portland house, her savings, her retirement funds—transferred automatically to Jean through joint ownership and beneficiary designations. Annie was already Jean's guardian and conservator.
The consolidation was complete.
What followed was a rapid infusion of cash. Jayne's accounts had been designated with "payable on death" beneficiaries—Jean. Two large sums, $56,677 and $32,513, transferred automatically into Jean's conservatorship. Nearly $90,000, flowing from one dead sister's estate into accounts controlled by Annie.
Combined with the Portland home sale proceeds that would come later, Annie would oversee the liquidation of everything the twins had built over their lifetimes.
With Jayne gone, Jean was alone. Court records and witness testimony describe what happened next.
Annie restricted virtually all contact between Jean and her former life. Friends who had known the twins for decades were turned away. Church members who tried to visit were told they weren't welcome. Pastors were blocked. Court documents describe an "exclusion list" created by Annie that was known to Adult Protective Services, the Long-Term Care Ombudsman, and facility staff.
At the June 2024 hearing, Jean's court-appointed attorney Hamilton questioned Annie about the impact of relocation on dementia patients. Annie testified about her own mother's experience being moved from Southern California to Florida:
"It was horrendous. My mother went from a place that she lived since 1971 and she was moved in 2012 to a place that she had never visited before."
Hamilton pressed: "So knowing that moving an individual with dementia to an unfamiliar setting is, in your words, horrendous... and that isolating them has a similarly negative impact—"
Annie cut him off: "Jean's not isolated."
Hamilton continued: "You explain why a significant chunk of people Jean knows are now disallowed from seeing her."
Annie's response: "Jean is not an individual. Jean is a twin that she had for 72 years of her life."
Jayne had been dead for two months.
One friend described the isolation as "very targeted and deliberate isolating of Jean and Jayne from all their current friends ... not a passive, mild event."
Court filings reveal a particularly telling detail: according to Melody Weaver, a friend of 42 years who wrote multiple letters to the court, she had sent the twins "a list of phone numbers (of about 7 friends) so they could call and socialize." Annie, she wrote, "took this list and made the exclusion list out of it."
The friends on that list shared certain characteristics: they lived hours away from Baker City. They had limited resources for travel. In other words, people unlikely to make the trip to check on the twins in person. The strategic selection allowed the guardian to claim she wasn't imposing a complete ban—while effectively achieving one.
Carol Green, one friend, drove five hours to Baker City to visit and bring flowers. According to Melody Weaver's letter to the court, Annie—who "didn't even know her"—said "Absolutely not" to letting her visit.
At the June 2024 hearing, Jean's court-appointed attorney Christopher Hamilton asked Annie directly about the exclusion list:
"So it's my understanding that there is a list of people that are not allowed to contact Jean. Is that correct?"
Annie's response: "No, that's a list that Melody made."
Melody, listening by phone, reacted immediately: "I made the list. Huh? That the list of people do not visit. That doesn't even make sense."
It didn't make sense because it wasn't true. Melody had made a list of friends' phone numbers so the twins could call and socialize. Annie had taken that list and turned it into a ban list. Now, under oath, she was blaming Melody for creating the very exclusion policy Annie had implemented.
On July 9, 2024, Weaver sent an email to Nicole Howerton, the administrator of Memory Lane Homes, documenting Annie's behavior. In that email—sent to a mandatory reporter at the facility where Jean lived—Weaver recounted a text message Annie had sent her:
"they're gone melody, they're gone"
And then, according to Weaver's email: Annie said "she was praying jean would have a heart attack every day."
The same email documented an earlier incident. While clearing out Jean's Portland home, Annie had yelled at another friend: "Don't you guys get it!... you're never going to see them again. Jayne's going to be dead in 6 months!"
Jayne died within the timeframe Annie predicted.
When friends tried to call, according to Weaver's email, Annie "hangs up on them mid sentence and often tells them she's reporting them to sheriff."
This wasn't an oversight. It was policy.
Eight friends wrote letters to the court documenting their concerns. In June 2024, the court appointed retired Judge Gregory Baxter—the same visitor who had recommended guardianship despite Jayne's documented objection—to investigate the isolation. The order specifically directed Baxter to "investigate and opine on the limits on association" Annie had imposed.
Baxter's supplemental report, submitted June 18, 2024, acknowledged that eight letters had been submitted to the court from friends and community members. Their "major complaint," Baxter noted, was "being cut out of Respondent's life and not being able to call or visit." However, Baxter's ultimate conclusion deferred to the guardian's discretion, stating that even if others "might draw a different conclusion," it "does not make the visitor's limits inappropriate."
On June 11, 2024, Annie's attorney filed a motion to "sever" the isolation issue from an upcoming hearing on fees. Judge Robert Raschio signed the order the same day. The effect was profound: it allowed the June 20 hearing to proceed on financial matters—including approval of substantial fee requests—while deferring judicial review of the alleged isolation abuse indefinitely.
On June 19, 2024, Jean's court-appointed attorney (Hamilton of Disability Rights Oregon) filed detailed objections to Annie's financial accounting, specifically challenging:
The next day, June 20, Judge Shirtcliff denied the objections. He approved $31,827.26 in fiduciary fees for Annie, explicitly ratifying the prior $5,000 self-payment and approving the remaining $26,827.26. The court "strongly cautioned" Annie regarding fiduciary responsibility and recordkeeping but ultimately approved the contested amounts.
One week later, on June 27, Annie obtained a physician's order limiting Jean's visitors to those "ok'd by POA Annie to avoid increased stress." The isolation imposed by the guardian was now medicalized—wrapped in clinical language and signed by a healthcare provider.
Friends later testified that this order was used to justify continued denial of all visits, including from Jean's pastor and church community who had known her for decades.
On June 30, 2024, a formal criminal referral regarding the McSherry matter was submitted to Baker County District Attorney Greg Baxter—son of court visitor Gregory Baxter.
The DA's response, according to records: the allegations "don't appear to be criminal." He suggested the complainant contact the Department of Human Services or law enforcement first.
The referral had cited specific statutes: Criminal Mistreatment (ORS 163.205), False Imprisonment (ORS 163.225), Theft (ORS 164.055-057), Forgery (ORS 165.013), and potential Medicare Fraud. The referral noted that "the evidence law enforcement needs to investigate sits in your own building—the guardianship case files contain documented proof of financial exploitation, excessive billing, asset transfers, and isolation orders."
The familial relationship between the court visitor providing critical recommendations in the case and the district attorney responsible for potential criminal prosecution created what investigative reports describe as an "appearance of conflict that undermines public confidence in the system's ability to provide independent oversight."
Lynn McSherry, having finally learned what happened to his sisters, filed a cross-petition in September 2024 seeking to become Jean's guardian. The petition challenged Annie's suitability as guardian and sought Lynn's appointment in her place. It also brought to the court's attention a critical due process violation: Lynn had never received the statutorily required notice of the original emergency proceedings filed in January 2024.
The court appointed Marita Somerville as visitor to investigate Lynn's cross-petition on September 26, 2024.
Somerville's October 8/14, 2024 report recommended against Lynn and characterized him as "a passive participant in an effort by others to gain visitation access to the Protected Person."
But the report did note one concerning finding: Jean's bank accounts at Old Glory Bank were titled jointly with Annie—"JEAN ILEEN MCSHERRY ANNIE MCSHEERY-BOOD"—rather than in proper conservatorship format. A proper conservatorship account should read "Jean McSherry Protected Person by Annie McSheery-Bood Conservator." The joint titling meant that upon Jean's death, the funds could potentially transfer automatically to Annie through rights of survivorship—bypassing probate, bypassing the court, bypassing any review.
Somerville recommended immediate recharacterization of the accounts.
After Jean's death, on December 9, 2025, Annie emailed Old Glory Bank: "The bank statements do not show me as a Guardian/Conservator. Do you have a signature card or something...?" The bank's response confirmed the accounts were still titled "JEAN ILEEN MCSHERRY ANNIE MCSHEERY-BOOD"—the joint format that Somerville had flagged fourteen months earlier. There is no evidence the recharacterization ever occurred.
In November 2024, while Lynn's challenge was still pending, the court authorized the sale of Jean's Portland home at 7668 SE Ogden Street. On October 28, 2024, Annie had accepted an offer of $391,000 for the property, contingent on court approval.
Annie's attorney filed a declaration arguing the sale should proceed "regardless of outcome" of the brother's petition.
On November 19, 2024, the court authorized the sale.
On January 17, 2025—exactly one year after the emergency petitions were filed—Judge Shirtcliff dismissed Lynn's cross-petition. He acknowledged that Annie had violated notice requirements but found the violation involved "no bad faith."
Under Oregon law, failure to notify the closest relative of guardianship proceedings is not merely a procedural error. It is a fundamental due process violation that can render the entire appointment void—not voidable, but void from the beginning. Legal scholars call it "void ab initio." If a court appointment is void, every action taken under it was taken without authority. Every fee collected, every asset sold, every decision made.
Judge Shirtcliff declined to apply that doctrine.
Jean remained in Annie's care.
Annie's billing records provide a detailed account of Jean's final months. The Declaration of Fiduciary filed December 13, 2025, documents the timeline:
Throughout 2025, the milk deliveries continued—weekly or twice-weekly trips to Old Souls Farm, each billed at $100 per hour plus mileage. The entries are monotonous in their repetition:
And so on, through the summer and into fall. Thirty-seven trips. Each one billed. Each one paid from Jean's dwindling estate.
On November 4 and November 9, the entries change. Instead of one hour, Annie billed two hours each for the milk deliveries. No explanation is given.
On November 10, Annie billed 0.25 hours at $100 for "Contact with Attorney's office with status update on Jean's condition."
Three days later, on November 13, Jean had a doctor's appointment with LuAnn Cook—the same nurse practitioner who had diagnosed Jayne with "advanced dementia" and referred her to hospice eleven months earlier. Annie billed 2.5 hours at $100 for attending.
On November 17, Annie's billing entry reads: "Old Souls milk delivery to Jean, Hospice called to admit, required medication information, scheduled for evaluation for 11/21/25 - first opening."
Three hours billed. $300.
Between November 17 and 18, according to the Final Accounting, Annie purchased $2,634.43 in furniture for Jean:
Jean was scheduled for hospice evaluation in four days.
On November 20, Annie billed 4 hours at $100 for "DFBC Guardianships Class. Meeting with Memory Care, Kyler and LuAnn re: Jean not doing well and sign new care documents."
LuAnn Cook was there again.
On November 21, the hospice evaluation was scheduled for 10 AM. According to Annie's billing entry: "Hospice - 10am no show. New nurse found to evaluate Jean. Sat with Jean waiting for arrival and evaluation."
The scheduled nurse didn't come. So Annie found a replacement. A new nurse, one who had never seen Jean before, conducted the hospice evaluation that would set the final weeks in motion.
Annie billed 5.5 hours for waiting—$550.
On November 26, Annie made her last milk delivery. She cancelled the December autopay. She billed 1.5 hours—$150.
On November 28, Annie billed 2 hours at $100 for "Sat with Jean to watch over her."
The billing entries for December 1 through 4 are combined into a single line: "2 hours as Guardian, the rest of the hours as her cousin, making sure her hygiene was taken care of, meeting with hospice nurses, staff was short, so made sure her care proper and she was comfortable. Spoke with Attorney office daily with updates."
For four days of care, Annie billed 2 hours. The rest, she says, was as Jean's "cousin."
On December 5, 2025, Jean McSherry died.
Annie was present. She had pre-paid Tami's Pine Valley Funeral Home $1,455 back in May 2024—seven months before Jean's death.
Annie billed 4 hours at $100 for "Waited for Hospice nurses to pronounce, Tami's funeral home to pick up Jean. Made arrangements with Memory Care for moving furniture out of apartment."
The furniture she had purchased seventeen days earlier.
Lynn McSherry learned of his sister's death and attempted to intervene regarding the disposition of remains.
The call Lynn made wasn't asking for ashes. Jean hadn't been cremated yet.
According to Lynn McSherry, he contacted Tami's Pine Valley Funeral Home directly after learning of his sister's death. A woman at the funeral home confirmed that Jean had not yet been cremated. Lynn told her explicitly: do not cremate. He wanted an autopsy.
The woman then called Annie.
When Lynn spoke with the funeral home employee again, her demeanor had changed completely—her voice cold where it had been warm moments before.
Jean was cremated anyway.
Under Oregon law (ORS 97.130), Lynn had statutory priority over Annie regarding disposition of his sister's remains. A competent adult sibling takes precedence over a guardian—unless the guardian is "unaware of any contact" in the preceding 12 months. Annie had litigated against Lynn for fifteen months. She had filed opposition briefs against his cross-petition. She had testified about him in court. She knew he existed.
Lynn exercised his statutory right. He was ignored.
The body that could have been autopsied—that could have answered questions about Jean's rapid decline, about the medications documented in her final weeks, about the circumstances of her death—no longer exists.
Annie's own billing records confirm she knew. Between December 8 and 11, she received a "Phone call from Tami's Pine Funeral Home re: Lynn requesting Jean's ashes." The same day, she called her attorney's office "re: phone calls received."
On December 13, 2025—eight days after Jean's death—Annie's attorney filed the Final Accounting, a Motion for General Judgment, a Statement of Attorney Fees, and a Notice of Time for Filing Objections.
The deadline for objections: December 30, 2025.
On December 15, 2025, Jean's ashes were interred at Mountain View Cemetery in Oregon City—500 Hilda Street, less than twenty miles from Portland. The receipt shows Annie paid $1,600: $530 for the interment niche, $690 for an "Essential Plaque," and $380 for an administration fee.
The day after, December 16, Annie billed 10 hours at $100 for "Drive to Oregon City to deliver ashes." The mileage log shows 606 miles.
Six days after being told Lynn wanted an autopsy, after being informed he did not consent to cremation, Annie had Jean's body cremated, drove those remains past Portland, interred them in a suburb Lynn could have reached in thirty minutes, and never informed him it was happening.
Jean McSherry, who was born in Portland, who lived her entire life in Portland, who was taken from Portland in early 2024, was returned there in a container. Her brother, who had fought for over a year to see her, who had explicitly requested an autopsy, was not invited to say goodbye.
The Final Accounting covers February 8, 2025 through December 5, 2025—ten months ending in death.
Over the entire guardianship, Jean's estate paid Memory Lane Homes a total of $204,300 across 23 separate disbursements. During the final accounting period alone—ten months—the facility received $100,000 in ten equal payments of $10,000 each.
The disbursement records show a particular pattern in the final two months. Four transfers labeled "Care Facility Rent" were moved from savings to checking—each for exactly $10,000:
Forty thousand dollars transferred in less than sixty days. But according to the checking account records, only $30,000 was actually paid to Memory Lane during that same period. The December 1 payment was made four days before Jean died.
The Final Accounting also revealed a discrepancy. The 2016 Mazda had been valued on the original inventory at $20,264—its purchase price. Annie's own filing admits this "should not have been." The car sold for $8,750, meaning the inventory had overstated its value by $11,514.
The accounting requested that the court waive filing vouchers—the receipts that would document how money was actually spent.
In the Final Accounting, Annie and her attorney requested the following payments:
The billing breakdown shows what those 105.5 hours included:
The 37 milk deliveries consumed approximately 40-50 hours of billed time. Most were one hour each; some were longer. At $100/hour plus mileage averaging $22 per trip, each typical delivery cost the estate roughly $122—for milk that cost $20.
The November hospice-related entries totaled over 16 hours: 3 hours on November 17, 4 hours on November 20, 5.5 hours on November 21, 1.5 hours on November 26, 2 hours on November 28.
The December entries added another 16 hours: 2 hours for December 1-4, 4 hours for December 5 (death day), 10 hours for December 16 (delivering ashes).
At the June 2024 hearing, Jean's attorney Hamilton had pressed Annie on the appropriateness of billing for family care:
"Let's say my little brother gets hit by a car and dies. Would you expect, you know, a cousin that I'm close to to come spend some time with me and help me process?"
"Absolutely," Annie replied.
"Would you expect that cousin to get paid for doing that?"
Annie hesitated. "Um, you, you mean a cousin that's in the right mind and then a cousin that is has—"
Hamilton cut her off: "We're sticking with this hypothetical of my cousin coming to visit me after my little brother died. Would you expect my cousin to get paid for coming to spend time with me?"
"I don't see the relevancy," Annie said.
"That's my decision on relevancy," the judge interjected.
Annie never answered the question.
The attorney fee statement breaks this down:
According to court records, by April 2025, the court had already approved cumulative payments totaling $88,259.11 from Jean's estate alone:
Combined with the $24,869.02 extracted from Jayne's estate during her 105-day guardianship, total approved payments to Annie and Kindschy exceeded $113,128.
If the current fee requests are approved, total fees from both estates would approach $138,000.
And that doesn't include the $40,000 in "care facility rent" transfers in the final two months, the furniture purchases, the funeral expenses, the cemetery costs, or any of the other disbursements documented in the Final Accounting.
Two sisters. Combined assets exceeding half a million dollars at the start of 2024. Both dead by December 2025. Both cremated. Both estates liquidated.
The deaths of Jean and Jayne McSherry followed a similar sequence:
Medical Provider: In both cases, Nurse Practitioner LuAnn Cook was involved in critical medical decisions. She diagnosed Jayne with "advanced dementia" and referred her to hospice on January 19, 2024—one day after Jayne was documented as "adamant" about not wanting a guardian. She met with Annie on November 20, 2025, to sign "new care documents" for Jean when Jean was "not doing well."
Rapid Decline: Jayne went from emergency petition to death in 105 days. Jean's decline, documented in Annie's own billing records, accelerated dramatically in November 2025.
Family Notification: Lynn was never told of Jayne's proceedings, illness, or death. When Jean declined in November 2025, the billing records show Annie contacting her attorney with "status updates"—but no record of contacting Lynn.
Cremation: Both sisters were hastily cremated. Annie had pre-paid the funeral home for Jean seven months before her death.
Billing on Death Day: Annie billed Jayne's estate for "consoling" on the day Jayne died. She billed Jean's estate $400 for "waiting for pronouncement" and arranging furniture removal on the day Jean died.
The same guardian. The same attorney. The same medical provider. The same isolation from family. The same progression from decline to death. The same immediate cremation. The same brother left in the dark.
Gregory Baxter, the retired circuit judge who served as court visitor and recommended guardianship despite Jayne's documented objection, is the father of Greg Baxter, the Baker County District Attorney.
When a criminal referral was submitted, the DA declined to investigate.
Court visitor Marita Somerville, who recommended against Lynn's cross-petition, appears in related investigative reports as a visitor "frequently appointed in cases involving attorney J. Glenn Null" (Lynn's attorney). In those cases, reports show Somerville's recommendations "consistently favoring incumbent guardians over Null's clients."
Emily Cooper of Disability Rights Oregon was appointed as Jayne's attorney on April 11, 2024—four days after Jayne died. The procedural purpose of appointing counsel for a deceased person was never explained. Cooper also represented another protected person in a separate case that is now the subject of a Medicare Fraud investigation by CMS involving allegations of financial fraud and suspicious death.
Judge Shirtcliff waived bond requirements in both cases despite assets exceeding $500,000. He approved fees over documented objections from Jean's own court-appointed attorney. He dismissed Lynn's challenge despite acknowledged notice violations. He allowed the Portland home to be sold during pending litigation.
The court approved everything Annie requested. Often on the same day she requested it.
January 17, 2024: Emergency guardianship petitions filed. Emergency guardianship granted. Bond waived. Same day.
June 11, 2024: Annie's attorney filed a motion to sever the isolation issue from the upcoming fee hearing. Judge Raschio signed the order granting severance. Same day. The effect: Annie's fees were approved on June 20 while the friends' concerns about isolation were pushed to an indefinite future date.
April 29–30, 2024: Annie filed Jayne's Final Accounting requesting $24,869.02. Judge Shirtcliff approved it. One day later. The estate was closed by May 1.
November 19, 2024: Annie's attorney filed a declaration urging the court to approve the sale of Jean's Portland home "regardless of the outcome" of Lynn's pending challenge. Judge Shirtcliff signed the order authorizing the sale. Same day. The home sold three days later for $391,000.
Four critical decisions. All granted immediately. No waiting period. No opportunity for objection before approval.
The pattern extended beyond court filings. When Jayne died, her assets—including her share of the Portland home and nearly $90,000 in bank accounts—transferred automatically to Jean's estate through survivorship designations and payable-on-death beneficiaries. No probate required. The money flowed directly into accounts Annie already controlled.
The system worked exactly as designed. The question is: designed for whom?
The Final Accounting asks the court to:
Under Oregon law, if the court finds a conservator breached her duty, it can "surcharge" the fiduciary—order her to personally repay the losses. If the fee requests were excessive, if the transfers were unjustified, the court has the power to hold Annie accountable.
But only if someone objects. And only if the objection is filed by December 30, 2025.
Oregon law provides broad standing for objections. Under ORS 125.075, an "interested person" includes anyone "interested in the affairs or welfare of a protected person." The friends who were isolated—Melody Weaver, Carol Green, the eight who wrote letters—they have standing. Anyone with a demonstrable, documented interest in Jean's welfare can file.
The statute also grants interested persons inspection rights. Under ORS 125.475, even if the court waives the filing of vouchers, the conservator must permit interested persons to inspect those vouchers and receive copies at their own expense for up to one year after the final accounting is approved.
The paper trail exists. The billing records exist. The vouchers—if they exist—can be demanded.
The court records raise questions that remain unanswered:
Why were the emergency petitions granted with bond waivers despite assets exceeding $500,000?
Why did the court-appointed visitor recommend guardianship when Jayne was "adamant" she didn't want one—and had stabbed her cousin with a protractor the same day?
If Jayne said she didn't want a guardian, why did the court say there were no objections?
Why was the brother never notified of proceedings that affected his only sisters?
Why didn't the brothers attorney file to void the guardianship?
Why did the court find "no bad faith" in notice violations that Oregon law treats as fundamental due process errors?
Why were Jean's bank accounts titled jointly with Annie rather than under proper conservatorship designation—and why did that improper titling persist until her death despite a court visitor's recommendation to fix it fourteen months earlier?
Why did Annie pre-pay the funeral home seven months before Jean died?
Why did she cancel the December milk autopay on November 26—nine days before Jean's death?
Why did the scheduled hospice nurse not show up on November 21, requiring Annie to find a replacement?
Why did Annie purchase $2,634 in furniture for Jean seventeen days before Jean died—and then, on the day Jean died, make arrangements to move that furniture out?
Why were there four $10,000 "care facility rent" transfers in the final two months, including one four days before death?
Why weren't Lynn notified that Jean's ashes were being interred in Oregon City—twenty miles from Portland, where he could have been present?
Why was Jean cremated after Lynn explicitly told the funeral home not to cremate and requested an autopsy?
Jean McSherry was born in Portland. She lived her entire life in Portland. She built her community in Portland. She attended church in Portland. Her friends were in Portland.
In early January 2024, she was driven 298 miles east to Baker County.
On December 5, 2025, she died there.
On December 15, 2025, her ashes were interred at Mountain View Cemetery in Oregon City—a Portland suburb, twenty miles from where she'd spent seventy-two years. The interment instructions on the receipt read: "Interment for Jean I. McSherry & Essential Niche Name Plate."
Lynn McSherry had no idea.
He wasn't told his sisters were being moved to Baker County. He wasn't told they were put under guardianship. He wasn't told Jayne was dying. He wasn't told Jayne died. He wasn't told Jean was declining. He wasn't told Jean was on hospice. He wasn't told Jean died. And when Jean's ashes were driven back to the Portland area—close enough that he could have been there, close enough that he could have said goodbye—he wasn't told that either.
The brother she was never allowed to see learned of the interment only after it was done.
The friends who wrote letters to the court never got to visit.
The church that sustained her for decades was locked out.
Her pastor, who had known her for over 40 years, was barred from entry.
And in Baker County, Annie McSheery-Bood is asking the court to close the file, approve her fees, and discharge her from liability.
December 30 is eleven days away.
All information in this report is derived from public court records filed in Baker County Circuit Court Cases 24PR00094 (In the Matter of Jayne Colleen Peters) and 24PR00095 (In the Matter of Jean Ileen McSherry), including:
This story isn't over on December 30. It's just beginning.
The deadline for objections is December 30, 2025. Under Oregon law, interested persons have standing to file. The court clerk can provide the necessary forms.
I'll be watching this closely.
Stay with me
—Levi Bakke
Investigative Journalist
La Grande, Oregon