Do you know who murdered Frieda and Robert Wheatley in 1988? On a late August day in 1988, a granddaughter's concern for her grandparents led to a grim discovery in a North Portland home. On August 29th, after not hearing from them, she requested a welfare check at the residence of 69-year-old Caucasian female Frieda Wheatley and her husband. When police entered the house at 2612 N. Holman, they found a scene of disarray; the home had been thoroughly ransacked, yet there were no signs of a forced entry.
In the basement, they found the bodies of Frieda and Robert Wheatley. An autopsy would later reveal that both had been strangled to death, with investigators believing they were killed two days prior, on August 27, 1988.
The primary motive for the double homicide appeared to be robbery. Among the items missing from the Wheatley's home were a television set, jewelry, an ATM card, and a credit card. The couple's light green 1979 Buick Regal had also been stolen. In the days between the murders and the discovery of their bodies, their credit and ATM cards were used extensively throughout Northeast, North, and Downtown Portland. The stolen Buick was located a few days later, abandoned in the parking lot of the Jantzen Beach Shopping Center.
Investigators developed a theory that the killers may have gained access to the home under the guise of being prospective buyers, as the Wheatleys had a 'For Sale By Owner' sign in their yard. This would explain the lack of forced entry and suggest the couple may have unknowingly let their attackers into their home. Despite the active use of the stolen cards and the recovery of the vehicle, the case grew cold. Over the years, law enforcement has revisited the investigation, including in 2006 when Portland's Cold Case Homicide Unit re-examined the evidence, hoping that advancements in technology, such as DNA and fingerprint analysis, could shed new light on the crime. While a person of interest was identified at one point, a lack of corroborating evidence and witness testimony meant no arrests were ever made. The case remains unsolved, a lingering mystery of a quiet couple who met a violent end in their own home.
