COURT FINDS ROBERT PLYMPTON GUILTY IN 1980 COLD CASE MURDER
Multnomah Co. District Attorney's Office Close to 7:00 p.m. on January 15, 1980, Barbara Tucker, a student at Mt. Hood Community College, was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and beaten to death near a campus parking lot by Robert Plympton. On the morning of January 16, 1980, students arriving for class at Mt. Hood Community College discovered the body of Ms. Tucker in a wooded area between Kane Rd and a school parking lot. In 2000, vaginal swabs taken during Ms. Tucker’s autopsy were sent to the Oregon State Police (OSP) Crime Lab for analysis. The Crime Lab developed a DNA profile from the swabs. In 2021, a genealogist with Parabon Nanolabs identified Robert Plympton as a likely contributor to the unknown DNA profile developed in 2000. Detectives with the Gresham Police Department found Plympton living in Troutdale and began conducting surveillance. When they saw Plympton spit a piece of chewing gum onto the ground, detectives collected the gum and submitted it to the OSP Crime Lab