Husband convicted 36 years after estranged wife found dead, Oregon officials say
Before she was killed in 1988, Deborah Atrops was planning for a divorce, Oregon officials said.
She and her husband, Robert Atrops, had separated over marital problems that included physical abuse, according to the Washington County District Attorney’s Office.
She’d started dating someone new, and she shared with friends that her estranged husband confronted her and “she was worried he would kill her,” prosecutors said.
Now, 36 years after Deborah Atrops was found dead at a remote construction site, Robert Atrops has been convicted in her killing, officials said. A jury found him guilty of second-degree murder in the once-cold case, prosecutors said in an April 17 news release.
Stephanie Pollan, one of his attorneys, told McClatchy News that “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 Mr. Atrops is back home with his family,” Pollan said in an April 18 email.
Robert Atrops, now 70, is set to be sentenced in May, prosecutors said.
Reported missing
He reported Deborah Atrops missing Nov. 29, 1988, after she left a hair appointment “with plans to go to (his) house in Sherwood to pick up their daughter,” prosecutors said.
She’d left the salon at about 7 p.m., and Robert Atrops started making calls to loved ones and police two and a half hours later, saying she was missing, according to prosecutors.
“He claimed he made these calls from his home phone, but there was no record of the calls. Investigators believe he was not at home when he made these calls,” prosecutors said.
The body of the former secretary and bookkeeper was found two days later inside the trunk of her car at the construction site, according to prosecutors. She’d been strangled, prosecutors said.
Robert Atrops “told police he never saw the victim that night, but his alibi was not fully confirmed,” according to prosecutors, who noted that “eventually, the investigation stalled.”
Investigators cleared other people who were close to Deborah Atrops, “including the person with whom she had been in a romantic relationship,” prosecutors said, adding that “over time, the case was reviewed by various investigators with no new significant leads.”
Cold case revived
Then in 2020, a cold case detective took a look, prosecutors said.
He found more witnesses and information, and “submitted additional items for forensic analysis, including the victim’s clothing and soil samples collected in 1988,” prosecutors said.
Robert Atrops’ DNA was linked “to the coat the victim was wearing when she was murdered” and “mud collected from the victim’s vehicle was indistinguishable from the mud collected at the defendant’s home,” prosecutors said, adding that it was determined that Robert Atrops “sold roofing materials at construction sites near the location where the victim’s body was found.”
When the detective interviewed Robert Atrops in 2022, “there were significant discrepancies from his version of events in 1988,” according to prosecutors.
Robert Atrops was arrested in 2023, prosecutors said.
Sherwood is about a 15-mile drive southwest from Portland.
This story was originally published April 18, 2025 at 1:06 PM with the headline "Husband convicted 36 years after estranged wife found dead, Oregon officials say."
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