A former Portland club owner and perpetrator of one of the city’s most notorious murders was released from prison today.
Larry Hurwitz, 53, was released from the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem after serving more than seven-and-a-half years of an 11-year sentence for the 1990 slaying of Tim Moreau.
Moreau, the 21-year-old promotions manager of Old Town’s Starry Night club, became the subject of one of Portland’s most enduring mysteries when he vanished on the night of Jan. 23, 1990, leaving no trace except his car parked at the airport.
Over the years, details emerged linking Starry Night owner Hurwitz to the crime. Hurwitz was the last person to see Moreau alive before he vanished three days after the two men had a dispute over a counterfeit ticket scheme.
With no body, the case went cold. Hurwitz sold the club, which is now home to the Roseland Theater, and moved to Vietnam. There he was arrested in July 1998 and extradited to Portland to face tax-evasion charges.
While Hurwitz was serving his one-year sentence for tax evasion, investigators got their first break in the Moreau case. A former Starry Night employee told investigators Moreau had been murdered.
George Castagnola, another former club employee, pleaded guilty in November 1998 to helping Hurwitz garrote Moreau to cover up their involvement in the ticket scam. Castagnola led investigators to the body, buried in a makeshift grave on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge.
Initially charged with five counts of aggravated murder, Hurwitz was sentenced to 11 years in prison after pleading no contest to a single count of murder in August 2000. 
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That’s it? Only 7 1/2 yrs for taking a human life? This is a sad testament to the "Justice" system in Oregon.
What a disgrace…
Gee, do you think anyone will have a chat with Mr Hurwitz about the Sav-Mor Drug fire-bombing now that he’s available? Or about the threats he sent to anyone who sniffed around his dirty business? I don’t live in Portland anymore, but I worry for some ex-colleagues of mine who do, and who received very specific death threats when he was being investigated.
Hurwitz is a nasty piece of work, who we would be better off with still inside.
[...] four mid-teen boys to the infamous club, telling them ahead of time about the blues murder in the basement. Nothing sets the table for the night like a Rock Club murder. None of the boys said, [...]
I am the mother of Tim Moreau and want everyone to know that Tim’s body has never been found. The killers, George Castagnola and Larry Hurwitz, tried to locate the site where they buried him, but either could not or chose not to “find” him. The article gives the impression that the grave was found. Not having Tim’s remains continues to haunt me.
I will not reveal my indentity, but I worked at the starry night in Feb. of 1990. My first actual encounter with the monster hurwitz was a short time after I started working. While on my way to work through old town, I was jumped by a group of guys outside the club. I got away and made it inside the club where I informed hurwitz about what happened. He then marched himself and me outside. He told me to point out who was responsible. I did and he then proceeded to tell this group that if he ever heard of them assaulting any employee or customer of his club he would make sure they never did again. I am truly unable to put into words exactly the fear he invoked on them or me for that matter. I will never forget it.