#robertacremant

[criminol]

The Murders of Roxanne Ellis and Michelle Abdill

Roxanne Ellis and Michelle Abdill were an American lesbian couple. Roxanne was divorced and had two children. The couple met in Colorado when Roxanne worked as a nurse and Michelle got a job in the same doctor's office. They started a successful property management business and spent their free time restoring their house. The couple were activists fighting two state ballots Measure 9 which intended to declare homosexuality 'abnormal, wrong, unnatural and peverse,' and Measure 19 intended to restrict library access for materials related to homosexuality. At the time of their deaths, Michelle and Roxanne had been together for 12 years.

In 1990, after putting up with increasing homophobia in Colorado, Michelle and Roxanne moved to Oregon.

On 4th December 1995, Roxanne went to an appointment to show 27-year-old Robert Acremant an apartment, she told her daughter, Lorri, where she was going and arranged to meet her. Police believe the appointment was made earlier that day. Michelle left the office at 5 pm saying she needed to help Roxanne start her car which was not working.

Lorri drove to the apartment complex where her mother was showing the property and saw Roxanne's pick up truck, she reported it pulled away from her when she tried to follow it.

Roxanne and Michelle were not seen again until four days later when their bodies were found in the back of Roxanne's pick up truck after the vehicle was reported by a cable TV worker. Both women had been bound and gagged before being shot in the head,

The murders cause concern in the local gay community. It was discovered Roxanne and Michelle had been threatened before due to their activism work and that the killings may have been hate crimes. A police sketch of the client Roxanne was last seen with was drawn and released.

The widespread media coverage of the murders reachers Robert Acremant's mother who called a tip line and told police she was suspicious her son was involved and that he matched the composite sketch. Police tracked down Robert Acremant and arrested him in a motel room on 13th December 1995. After being arrested, Acremant confessed to the double homicide. He also confessed to another murder, the killing of Scott George in California on 3rd October 1995.

In August 1996, Acremant wrote a letter to his hometown newspaper stating he had intended to rob Roxanne and Michelle and knowing they were lesbians made it easier to kill them. He also wrote that he had killed Scott George, who was bisexual after he made a pass at home.

Acremant died of natural causes in prison on 16th October 2018.