In the late summer of 2019, the life of 62-year-old Philip Louis Cloud came to a violent and unexpected end. On September 23rd, on a 20-acre farm property he jointly owned with his estranged wife in the Bethany area of unincorporated Washington County, a suburb of Portland, Oregon, Philip was shot and killed. The initial call to 911 came from the shooter herself, Tracy L.
Cloud, who informed dispatchers that she had just shot her husband.
When Washington County Sheriff's deputies arrived at the Northwest Germantown Road property, they found Philip Louis Cloud unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Tracy Cloud, who was living at the property while Philip resided in a Hillsboro apartment, claimed the shooting was an act of self-defense. She told investigators that an argument had broken out and that Philip had pulled a handgun on her, prompting her to draw her own weapon and fire twice into his torso. At the time, no immediate arrest was made as authorities began the arduous process of untangling the events that led to the fatal encounter.
The couple had been in the process of what Philip's attorney described as an "amicable" divorce, which Philip had filed for three months prior to his death. Despite the impending legal separation, most of his belongings remained at the farm. As detectives delved deeper, inconsistencies began to emerge in Tracy Cloud's account. Investigators utilized evidence from surveillance cameras on the property, her financial records, and Philip's cell phone records. This evidence, combined with forensic findings from the autopsy and the scene, painted a different picture than the one Tracy had described.
Approximately four months after Philip's death, investigators concluded they had enough evidence to dispute the self-defense claim and arrested Tracy Cloud in January 2020. She was charged with second-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon. The prosecution built a case suggesting a strong financial incentive for the murder. In November 2021, a Washington County jury convicted Tracy L. Cloud on both charges, bringing a somber conclusion to the tragic death of Philip Louis Cloud.
