Death Row Inmate Who Murdered Couple In 1995 Found Dead In Cell

By Conrad Wilson (OPB)
Portland, Oregon Oct. 26, 2018 8:47 p.m.
Robert James Acremant, 50, was found dead in his cell on Friday. In 1997, was convicted of aggravated murder by a Jackson County jury for killing a lesbian couple in Medford.

Robert James Acremant, 50, was found dead in his cell on Friday. In 1997, was convicted of aggravated murder by a Jackson County jury for killing a lesbian couple in Medford.

Oregon Department of Corrections / Oregon Department of Corrections

An inmate being housed on Oregon's death row was found dead in his single cell Friday, according to the Oregon Department of Corrections.

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Robert James Acremant, 50, was convicted of aggravated murder in 1997 by a Jackson County jury after he killed a lesbian couple in Medford.

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In January 2011, Acremant was resentenced to life without parole. But he was also facing a death sentence for a murder in California, so he remained housed on Oregon's death row, a DOC spokeswoman said.

Oregon State Police are investigating the in-custody death.

On Dec. 4, 1995, Acremant shot Roxanne Kay Ellis and Michelle Abdill in the head. He left them gagged and bound in the back of a truck. The Medford Mail-Tribune reported the women were discovered in a parking lot three days later.

Ellis and Abdill ran a property management company together.

Acremant killed the women after he determined they were lesbians, according to police.

After the murders, he was arrested in Stockton, California, where he also admitted to the murder of a California man.

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