Trial begins in 1988 Sherwood cold case; estranged husband accused of murdering Deborah Atrops

Published 11:45 am Friday, March 21, 2025

The trial is underway for a man accused of murdering his estranged wife nearly four decades ago in Washington County.

A 12-person jury trial is scheduled March 18 through April 11 as prosecutors attempt to crack the cold case that shook the Sherwood and Beaverton areas back in 1988.

Robert Elmer Atrops, now 70, was arrested in March 2023 from his Newberg home in connection with the murder of Deborah Lee Atrops. Two years later, his trial began.

Deborah Atrops was found dead in the trunk of her car in late 1988, but the case has been unsolved for 36 years. At the time of her disappearance in late November 1988, Deborah Atrops was 30 years old and married to Robert Atrops, then 34.

The murder

The couple had separated in June 1988, leaving Robert Atrops to live in the family home in Sherwood while Deborah Atrops lived in an apartment in Salem, according to an October 2022 search warrant.

On the evening of Nov. 29, 1988, according to the sheriff’s office, Robert Atrops was supposedly caring for their daughter in his Sherwood home while Deborah was at a hair appointment in Tigard. Robert Atrops told investigators that when she did not arrive to pick up the child, he began calling family and acquaintances to see if they had heard from her.

By 9 a.m. Nov. 30, 1988, a missing-person case was opened for Deborah Atrops.

On Dec. 1, 1988, Beaverton police responded to a suspicious vehicle complaint where Southwest Murray Road ended at Southwest Scholls Ferry Road in Beaverton. The driver’s side window of the 1988 Honda Accord — the same type of car Deborah Atrops purchased after splitting with her husband — was down, the keys were in the front seat, and the license plates had been removed.

Deputies were eventually called to the scene. They opened the car’s trunk and found the body of Deborah Atrops.

A medical examination determined Deborah Atrops had been physically assaulted and strangled to death. The case was deemed a homicide. Authorities concluded Atrops had been placed in the trunk after her death.

While more time and effort was allotted to the case shortly thereafter, the trail eventually went cold. The death was not investigated further for more than three decades.

Cracking the cold case with DNA

The use of DNA as an investigative tool did not exist in Oregon in 1988. Using a grant specifically to investigate violent cold cases in Washington County, the case was reopened in May 2021 to begin the review of DNA in Deborah Atrops’ death.

As her coat and items inside the car were found muddied, investigators presumed that these items would have biological evidence on them if she had been placed in the trunk after her death.

Washington County investigators reexamined Deborah Atrops’ coat and car keys in July 2022, and found the DNA of an unidentified man.

Deputies requested a search warrant in October 2022 for Robert Atrops’ fingerprints and DNA as a result, because of their familial connection.