In the quiet town of Medford, Oregon, the lives of 53-year-old White/Caucasian female Roxanne Ellis and her partner, Michelle Abdill, were tragically cut short on December 4, 1995. Ellis, a property manager, had an appointment that morning to show a rental property to a prospective client. As the day wore on, concern grew when she became unreachable.
A strange and brief phone call to her daughter, Lori, later that afternoon, stating she was going shopping, was the last time her family would hear her voice. Shortly after, Abdill left their office, telling a colleague she was going to help Ellis with a dead car battery. It was a ruse that lured her to her death.
The couple's disappearance set off a frantic search that ended in heartbreak four days later. A cable television installer noticed Ellis's pickup truck parked in an apartment complex lot across town and alerted the authorities. Inside the bed of the truck, police made a grim discovery: the bodies of both Ellis and Abdill. They had been bound, gagged with duct tape, and each shot twice in the head. The discovery sent shockwaves through the Medford community, where the couple was known as active members of their church and advocates for LGBTQ+ rights.
The investigation quickly led to a suspect, Robert James Acremant, then 27 years old. A crucial tip came from Acremant's own mother, who contacted police after hearing about the case and suspected her son's involvement. Police tracked him to a motel in Stockton, California, and he was arrested on December 13, 1995. Upon his arrest, Acremant confessed to the murders of both women.
Initially, Acremant claimed his motive was robbery, stating he had intended to get money from the couple to win back an ex-girlfriend. However, his story later changed. While awaiting trial, he sent a letter to his hometown newspaper, admitting that he had killed Ellis and Abdill because he hated homosexuals and that their sexual orientation made it easier for him to kill them. It was also revealed that he was a suspect in the disappearance and murder of a friend, Scott George, in California. Acremant pleaded guilty to the murders of Ellis and Abdill and was sentenced to death in Oregon in October 1997. He later received a second death sentence for the murder of Scott George. In 2011, his Oregon death sentence was converted to life in prison without parole after he was found to be too delusional to assist in his appeals. Robert Acremant died of natural causes in prison on October 16, 2018.
