Prosecutors claim that DNA from a chewing gum piece that was thrown away resulted in the identification and conviction of a defendant in an unsolved murder case in Oregon from 1980.
According to a press release from the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office, Robert Plympton, 60, was found guilty last week on one count of first-degree murder and four charges of second-degree murder in the death of Mt. Hood Community College student Barbara Tucker.
According to the press statement, Tucker, then 19 years old, was “kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and beaten to death” on January 15, 1980. Plympton was not charged with rape or sexual abuse, according to a document that the district attorney’s office made public. 
Plympton, who pleaded not guilty, plans to appeal his convictions. His attorneys, Stephen Houze and Jacob Houze, are confident that his convictions will be overturned. Plympton is currently in custody in Multnomah County, awaiting sentencing in June.
Witness heard yelling
According to the DA’s office paperwork, witnesses had observed a woman who appeared to be in distress at the moment of the murder. A lady was seen “waving her arms with a bloody face,” according to one woman, while a guy was seen “peeping through the foliage next to (the college) parking lot,” according to another.
A fourth witness described seeing a lady flailing wildly on the side of the road with muck on her trousers. A guy claimed to have heard a woman screaming and to have seen two persons in the distance.
According to the DA’s news release, Tucker’s corpse was found the next morning close to a parking lot by students who were en route to the college in Gresham for classes.
Following Plympton’s arrest in June2021, then-Police Chief Claudio Grandjean issued a statement in which he stated, “These cold-case investigations are not lost or forgot for our department.”
Officers value each person’s tragic stories, passing them down through generations with hope for justice and closure.
The DA reports that swabs from Tucker’s autopsy were used to create a DNA profile, which was then examined by Virginia-based DNA technology company Parabon NanoLabs for possible matches.
Parabon scientists discovered World War II draft record cards of red-headed men during the investigation of the murder and rape of Barbara Bush. This was the most confident red hair prediction Parabon scientists had ever made, indicating a high likelihood that the person responsible for the murder and rape had red hair.
Suspect is under observation
Moore reported that she was able to recognise Robert Plympton as her most likely suspect in March 2021.
Using that information, investigators started monitoring Plympton and managed to retrieve a wad of chewing gum that they saw him spit out, according to the district attorney’s office. When the profile from the postmortem swabs and the DNA extracted from the gum matched, Plympton was taken into custody on June 8, 2021.
“I was really caught off guard. In a conversation at the time, Tucker’s sister Susan Pater told affiliate KATU, “It was amazing.” “That was excellent news. I was done,” Pater murmured.
“One of the pleasures of my professional life in genetic genealogy,” according to Moore, is the case.
The speaker expressed gratitude for her position in supporting victims’ families and those who have experienced terrible crimes, stating that they will not provide an enjoyable ending.
