In a surprising twist to two cold cases, the deaths of two women, who were married to the same man at different times, are being investigated as murders.
Recently, law enforcement in Oregon and Kentucky reclassified the mysterious deaths of Joyce “Mable” Bridges in 1972 and Astrid Bridges in 1993 from accidental to homicide. This new angle has united authorities from both states in a collaborative effort to shed light on these decades-old cases.
At the center of the investigation is 86-year-old pastor John Bridges, the sole link between the two women. While he remains free, without arrest or charges, Oregon police have publicly identified him as a suspect in Astrid’s death.
“Currently, we view her husband at the time, John Bridges, as a suspect in her murder,” stated Detective Adam Wright of the Gresham Police, as reported by WDRB.
Efforts to reach John for comments have been unsuccessful, and he has yet to address the public concerning these investigations.
On July 5, 1972, John’s wife Joyce was found unresponsive at home and later declared dead at Pewee Valley Hospital in Kentucky, the Louisville Metro Police wrote in a recent Facebook post.
“There was no initial police or EMS involvement,” Kentucky police shared in the July 24 post. “Based on information received by police, Mrs. Bridges was exhumed in 2015 for an autopsy. The conclusion of the autopsy determined the manner of death was homicide.”
John went on to marry Astrid, but, nearly 21 years later to the day, on July 2, 1993, she was found unresponsive outside their Oregon home, according to the Gresham Police Department.
“Investigators are continuing to pursue leads regarding the murder of Astrid Bridges.” Gresham police wrote on Facebook July 29. “Over the past several weeks detectives served a search warrant at John Bridges’ current residence in Missouri.”
A Louisville police spokesperson told Oxygen that it could not provide additional information.
“While the evidence right now points at Mr. Bridges, we believe pretty strongly, we’re not going to rush to judgment,” Gresham Police Detective Adam Wright told KGW. “We’re going to complete the investigative steps and follow all of the evidence wherever it leads.”
Wright said authorities have talked to John’s family, who are “understandably conflicted about this information.”
Police don’t consider John a danger to anyone, said Wright, adding, “other than maybe a current wife.”
When authorities began investigating Astrid’s death, John’s fifth and current wife Janice Grote “kicked him out,” she told NBC News.
“I am not afraid of him and I don’t think he would come back to hurt me,” his wife of five years told the outlet. “But I don’t want to sleep with a man who is under suspicion of murder. I don’t want to be stupid.”
As for John’s other wives, his third spouse died in 2011 of “hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease,” according to a coroner’s report obtained by NBC News. While his fourth wife died in 2024 of cancer.
“It wasn’t until the police came here from Oregon that I found out they might have been killed,” Grote said of Astrid and Joyce. “John has a lot of very good qualities … But I’ve come to realize that the truth doesn’t come easy for John. He didn’t tell me the whole truth about his marriages.”
Grote called John’s past relationships “red flags.”
“That’s where I goofed,” she told the outlet. “I should have listened to the Holy Spirit. I would not be in this position if I had listened to the Holy Spirit.”