Robert Atrops attends a hearing at the Washington County Courthouse in Hillsboro, Ore., March 6, 2025. Atrops was arrested in 2023 for the 1988 cold case killing of his wife, Deborah Atrops, who was strangled to death and found in the trunk of her car.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
A Washington County jury has convicted Robert Atrops for the murder of his wife more than three decades ago.
Jurors deliberated for less than a day, following more than two weeks of testimony where witnesses were forced to recollect events from more than 35 years ago.
Atrops, 70, was convicted of second degree murder, which carries a life sentence. His next court appearance is set for May 20.
“We are disappointed by the verdict. Robert Atrops is an innocent man. We will be filing an appeal and we will continue to fight until he’s back home with his family,” Defense Attorney Stephanie Pollan told OPB in a statement.
Deborah Atrops was reported missing to police by her husband, Robert, in late November 1988. Police found her body in the trunk of her car, parked on a dead-end road near Beaverton. Police quickly honed in on her husband, as a prime suspect. The two had been married the year before, but had been separated for nearly six months before her death.
Detectives investigated for months, but ultimately determined they did not have enough evidence to file charges. In the fall of 1990, the case went cold. But in 2023, a grand jury charged Robert Atrops with killing his wife.
Deborah Atrops was murdered in 1988. In 2023, 35 years later, her estranged husband Robert Atrops was arrested in connection with the crime
Washington County Sheriff's Office
One of the most significant differences between the 1988 investigation and now is DNA. After the investigation reopened in 2021, the Oregon State Police Crime Lab analyzed the coat Deborah Atrops wore the night she died. Those tests could not definitively say if Robert Atrops’ DNA was on her coat. Still, prosecutors believed the evidence was enough to pursue charges.
Throughout the trial, defense attorneys took issue with those findings, specifically the way the lab collected its samples and the number of times it ran the evidence through its DNA analysis software. They’ve also questioned the significance of potentially finding a husband’s DNA on his wife’s coat. Attorneys also argued that law enforcement failed to truly consider and investigate other possible suspects.
Despite efforts to exclude the DNA evidence at trial, the judge overseeing the case allowed the jury to hear it. Prosecutors also focused their argument on the timeline of events the evening Deborah Atrops died, noting that there was no one who could corroborate Robert Atrops’ alibi.
Robert Atrops waves to his family as he exits the courtroom at the Washington County Courthouse in Hillsboro, Ore., March 6, 2025. Atrops was arrested in 2023 for the 1988 cold case killing of his wife, Deborah Atrops, who was strangled to death and found in the trunk of her car.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
“This is a case where you look at all the information together – it’s not one specific piece of information, it’s when you look at it all together. It is clear that the state has proven the case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Washington County Senior Deputy District Attorney Allison Brown told jurors during closing arguments Wednesday.
