Roxanne Ellis and Michelle Abdill - Publicity and Arrest

Publicity and Arrest

The discovery of Ellis' and Abdill's bodies caused concern in the local gay community. The couple's activism on gay rights issues and records of an earlier threat against them roused suspicion that they had fallen victim to a hate crime. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force wrote to Attorney General Janet Reno to request that the United States Department of Justice assist local authorities in their investigation. The letter cited the Justice Department's guidelines, which said a crime motivated by bias "in whole or in part" should be considered a hate crime.

The nature of the crime and the couple's activism led to widespread publicity about the case. Police publicized a composite sketch of the suspect based on a description of a witness who'd seen a man — Acremant — park Ellis' truck and walk away.

The media coverage of the murders reached Acremant's mother, who had moved to Medford three weeks earlier with her son. Believing her son had committed the murders, his mother called a police tip line and told police of her suspicion, based on her son's behavior and his resemblance to the composite sketch. She also showed police the labels of cardboard boxes used during her move to Medford with Acremant. Police matched the address labels to those on the boxes used to cover the women's bodies.

She later told The Oregonian, "I called the police because I have to look God in the face. I will do anything in my power to make sure other people aren't hurt. But right now, he's sick."

Police contacted California authorities and found that Acremant was under investigation there in the October 3 disappearance of one of his friends. He was then tracked down to a Stockton motel room and arrested on December 13, 1995.

Upon arrest, Acremant confessed to the Ellis and Abdill murders, claiming his motive was robbery. After they refused to write checks off their property management business, Acremant shot both women execution-style, each in the back of her head after binding and gagging them with duct tape and forcing them to lie down in the back of Ellis' pickup.

Acremant also confessed to killing Scott George of Visalia, California, on October 3, 1995, and dumping his body down a mine shaft located outside his father's ranch near Stockton. After he told his father where he hid the body, police found what was believed to be George's body at the bottom of a mine shaft.