On October 9, 1992, Martha Bryant, a 41-year-old nurse-midwife, was brutally murdered in Hillsboro, Oregon. The incident began shortly after 3:00 a.m. when the Washington County 9-1-1 Center received a call about shots being fired on Cornell Road, on the outskirts of Hillsboro. Upon arrival, police found an unoccupied car riddled with bullet holes and blood on the front seat.
Within a short distance, on 231st Street, officers discovered Bryant lying in the road, unconscious and suffering from gunshot wounds to the back and head. She died a few hours later without regaining consciousness.
The investigation that followed led police to conclude, approximately six months later, that Cesar Francesco Barone, also known as Adolph James Rode, was the probable killer. Barone, born on December 4, 1960, had a history of violent and antisocial behavior, including previous arrests and convictions for various crimes such as burglaries and assaults. He had been incarcerated before and had a history of drug and alcohol abuse.
According to the prosecution's theory presented during Barone's trial, he intercepted Bryant as she drove home from work at Tuality Hospital. Barone allegedly forced her car off the road with gunfire, injuring Bryant in the process. He then dragged the wounded Bryant out of her car and into his own, driving her to another location where he attempted to rape her. When Bryant's injuries made it impossible to continue the rape, Barone shot her in the temple, execution-style, and dumped her body in the road.
Cesar Barone was arrested on February 27, 1993, and subsequently charged with four counts of aggravated murder related to Bryant's death: intentionally killing her in the course of kidnapping, killing her to conceal his identity as the kidnapper, killing her in the course of an attempted rape, and killing her to conceal his identity as the perpetrator of the attempted rape. Barone was found guilty of all four counts by a jury, and after a separate penalty-phase proceeding, the same jury imposed the death penalty.
Barone's crimes extended beyond the murder of Martha Bryant. He was convicted of assaulting and killing at least three other women in the Portland area between 1991 and 1993. His known victims include Margaret Schmidt, 65, killed in April 1991; Chantee Woodman, 23, killed in December 1992; and Betty Williams, 51, killed in January 1993. Barone died of cancer on December 24, 2009, while awaiting execution at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem.
