Gresham’s Oldest Homicide Case Solved

GRESHAM, Ore. — Using the latest DNA technology, Gresham Police identified and arrested 58-year-old Robert Plympton of Troutdale on Tuesday.  He’s accused of murdering of 19-year-old Barbara Mae Tucker in January of 1980.

Tucker was a business student at Mt. Hood Community College.  The evening of her death, she was trying to flag cars down by the college on Kane Road.  The next morning, a fellow student found her body in bushes on campus.  She was sexually assaulted and beaten to death.

A recently DNA profile match connected detectives with Plympton after 41 years.