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Copyright 1996 The Chronicle Publishing Co.

The San Francisco Chronicle

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AUGUST 22, 1996, THURSDAY, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A5

LENGTH: 584 words

HEADLINE: Confessed Stockton Slayer Tells Motive

He changes story, implies he killed 2 women because they

BYLINE: Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer

BODY:

In a letter to a newspaper, a Stockton man accused of slaying two lesbian activists in Medford, Ore., has retracted his previous claim of robbery as his motive and implied that he killed the women because of their sexual orientation.

The suspect, 27-year-old Robert James Acremant, said previously that he had intended to rob the women and that their being lesbian made it easier to kill them.

Acremant's August 8 letter to his hometown paper, the Stockton Record, also says that he killed a 23-year-old Visalia man, Scott George, after George made a pass at him and that Acremant was a victim of childhood sexual abuse.

Acremant, who served in the Air Force and holds an MBA from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, had earlier confessed to killing George last October, and dumping his body down a mine shaft on his father's ranch. His previous motive for that killing was an inexplicable urge to murder, Acremant's father, Kenneth Acremant, has said.

The slayings of Roxanne Ellis, 53, and Michelle Abdill, 42, in December, provoked fears among gay and lesbian leaders that the women had been killed because of their sexual orientation and their outspoken support of gay rights.

The women, who ran a property management business, disappeared December 4 after Ellis showed Acremant an apartment for rent. They were shot in the head, and their bodies were found bound and gagged three days later in Ellis' pickup truck.

Acremant said in a three-page, handwritten letter, ''Originally, I was nervous about inmate reactions to my reason for killing, in that, they were hate crimes against bi- and homosexuals; so, I invented the money motive.

''Now, I just don't care what people think, including the jury. They can kill me for all I care. I've never liked life anyway.''

After Acremant was arrested December 12 in the slayings of the two women, he said he wanted to be executed by lethal injection. A month later, he pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers filed motions to overturn Oregon's death penalty. The case is expected to go to trial in February.

Kenneth Acremant said in a telephone interview last night that he had never heard his son voice anti-gay sentiments. Nor was he aware of the sexual abuse his son says he suffered.

In an interview from jail Tuesday, the Stockton Record quoted Acremant saying, ''I've known bisexual women, and that's cool. I have no problem with that. I have no compassion for . . . lesbians, or bisexual or . . . gay men. I can't deal with it.''

A press release last night from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which earlier requested a U.S. Justice Department investigation of the case, said:

''This story is not about Robert Acremant and his demons. It is about Roxanne and Michelle and their deaths.

''They were intentionally and methodically executed by a killer who admits to destroying them because they were lesbians. The evidence in this case and the larger social and political climate for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people speaks to the constant threat of hate-motivated violence perpetrated against us all.''

Jennifer Rakowski, a spokeswoman for Community United Against Violence, said Acremant's letter ''confirms what we feared. . . .'' It was also ''very disturbing'' to read that ''the Oregon police are still stuck in that mode of denial,'' Rakowski said, referring to published reports that Oregon authorities are skeptical of Acremant's latest claim.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: August 22, 1996

 

 

 

 

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Copyright 1995 The San Diego Union-Tribune  

The San Diego Union-Tribune

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December 10, 1995, Sunday

SECTION: NEWS; Ed. 1,2; Pg. A-8

LENGTH: 408 words

HEADLINE: Slaying of two lesbian leaders stuns Oregon Shooting stirs fears of anti-gay violence

BYLINE: LARRY D. HATFIELD 

San Francisco Examiner

BODY:

   The slayings of two prominent lesbian activists near here has stunned residents of the Medford-Ashland area and raised fears of anti-gay violence.

"I didn't think something like that would happen here, but you never think something like that would happen where you live," said Wendy Byrne, a lesbian who lives with her partner in Medford. "Everyone here, straight as well as gay and lesbian, is pretty stressed out. Everyone is sort of looking over her shoulder."

The bodies of Roxanne Ellis, 54, and Michelle Abdill, 42, were found in the back of their pickup in an apartment building parking lot on Thursday, said Lt. Tom Lavine.

Police yesterday said the women were shot to death. Lavine wouldn't give further details, but "to try to help allay some of the concerns in the community" he did discount rumors the bodies had been mutilated.

Police said they were seeking a man who was seen several times in the area of a duplex apartment that Ellis, a real estate agent, had shown a potential customer on Monday evening before she disappeared.

The man was believed to be driving a late model sedan with California license plates.

Ellis and Abdill had been domestic partners for many years and both were high-profile workers for gay rights in the Medford-Ashland community.

Abdill frequently wrote in the newsletter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

"It was hard not to know Michelle," Byrne said. "She was very active, particularly after Measure 9 (an anti-gay proposition that was defeated by Oregon voters in 1992)."

Ellis and Abdill ran a property management firm in Medford. Ellis' daughter, Lorri, told the Medford Mail Tribune she had last seen her mother Monday morning when she went to meet a potential customer at a duplex.

Police said Ellis called Abdill about 5 p.m. and said she needed a jump start on her pickup at the duplex. They were never seen again until police searched the pickup that a cable company installer had discovered.

After their disappearance, dozens of volunteers had helped search for them, posters were put up throughout the area in southern Oregon and a candlelight vigil was held.

Medford police, who said they were investigating the slayings as a hate crime, said there had been vague threats against the victims in the past but offered no details.

There was widespread fear that the slayings may have been related to the women's gay rights activities.

 

 

 

 

GRAPHIC: 1 PHOTO; Slaying mystery: Roxanne Ellis (left) and Michelle Abdill were outspoken supporters of gay rights.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

 

 

 

 

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Copyright 1996 Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.  

THE PHOENIX GAZETTE

September 12, 1996 Thursday, Final

SECTION: FRONT; Pg. A5

LENGTH: 55 words

HEADLINE: ELSEWHERE

BYLINE: Compiled from wire reports.

DATELINE: MEDFORD, Ore.

BODY:

   Robert James Acremant pleaded guilty Wednesday to murdering a lesbian couple in what he admitted was a hate crime against homosexuals. Roxanne Ellis, 53, and Michelle Abdill, 42, were slain Dec. 4 after showing Acremant an apartment for rent. A jury will be seated to determine whether Acremant, 27, gets the death penalty.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

COLUMN: NATIONAL BRIEFS

LOAD-DATE: September 25, 1996

 

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Copyright 1996 The Chronicle Publishing Co.  

The San Francisco Chronicle

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AUGUST 22, 1996, THURSDAY, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A5

LENGTH: 584 words

HEADLINE: Confessed Stockton Slayer Tells Motive

He changes story, implies he killed 2 women because they

BYLINE: Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer

BODY:

    In a letter to a newspaper, a Stockton man accused of slaying two lesbian activists in Medford, Ore., has retracted his previous claim of robbery as his motive and implied that he killed the women because of their sexual orientation.

The suspect, 27-year-old Robert James Acremant, said previously that he had intended to rob the women and that their being lesbian made it easier to kill them.

Acremant's August 8 letter to his hometown paper, the Stockton Record, also says that he killed a 23-year-old Visalia man, Scott George, after George made a pass at him and that Acremant was a victim of childhood sexual abuse.

Acremant, who served in the Air Force and holds an MBA from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, had earlier confessed to killing George last October, and dumping his body down a mine shaft on his father's ranch. His previous motive for that killing was an inexplicable urge to murder, Acremant's father, Kenneth Acremant, has said.

The slayings of Roxanne Ellis, 53, and Michelle Abdill, 42, in December, provoked fears among gay and lesbian leaders that the women had been killed because of their sexual orientation and their outspoken support of gay rights.

The women, who ran a property management business, disappeared December 4 after Ellis showed Acremant an apartment for rent. They were shot in the head, and their bodies were found bound and gagged three days later in Ellis' pickup truck.

Acremant said in a three-page, handwritten letter, ''Originally, I was nervous about inmate reactions to my reason for killing, in that, they were hate crimes against bi- and homosexuals; so, I invented the money motive.

''Now, I just don't care what people think, including the jury. They can kill me for all I care. I've never liked life anyway.''

After Acremant was arrested December 12 in the slayings of the two women, he said he wanted to be executed by lethal injection. A month later, he pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers filed motions to overturn Oregon's death penalty. The case is expected to go to trial in February.

Kenneth Acremant said in a telephone interview last night that he had never heard his son voice anti-gay sentiments. Nor was he aware of the sexual abuse his son says he suffered.

In an interview from jail Tuesday, the Stockton Record quoted Acremant saying, ''I've known bisexual women, and that's cool. I have no problem with that. I have no compassion for . . . lesbians, or bisexual or . . . gay men. I can't deal with it.''

A press release last night from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which earlier requested a U.S. Justice Department investigation of the case, said: ''This story is not about Robert Acremant and his demons. It is about Roxanne and Michelle and their deaths.

''They were intentionally and methodically executed by a killer who admits to destroying them because they were lesbians. The evidence in this case and the larger social and political climate for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people speaks to the constant threat of hate-motivated violence perpetrated against us all.''

Jennifer Rakowski, a spokeswoman for Community United Against Violence, said Acremant's letter ''confirms what we feared. . . .'' It was also ''very disturbing'' to read that ''the Oregon police are still stuck in that mode of denial,'' Rakowski said, referring to published reports that Oregon authorities are skeptical of Acremant's latest claim.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: August 22, 1996

 

 

 

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Copyright 1995 The Chronicle Publishing Co.  

The San Francisco Chronicle

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DECEMBER 21, 1995, THURSDAY, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A2

LENGTH: 357 words

HEADLINE: Reno Asked to Investigate Slaying of Lesbians

BYLINE: David Tuller, Chronicle Staff Writer

BODY:

    Citing a suspect's anti-gay statements, homosexual rights advocates are pressing the federal Department of Justice to investigate the slayings of two lesbians in southern Oregon as a possible hate crime.

The suspect, Robert James Acremant, was arraigned yesterday in Medford, Ore., where the two women, Roxanne Ellis and Michelle Abdill, were killed two weeks ago. Acremant was arrested last week in Stockton, Calif., and taken back to Medford on Tuesday.

During interviews with reporters, Acremant admitted killing the women but said the motive was robbery, not hatred based on their sexual orientation. He acknowledged, however, that he asked Ellis whether the two were lesbians and she said they were.

''It kind of made me sick to my stomach that she was someone's grandma,'' he told the Oregonian, adding that learning that the women were lesbians ''made it easier'' to kill them.

In a letter sent to Attorney General Janet Reno this week, Melinda Paras, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, requested the Justice Department to assist local police in their investigation. The letter cited the Justice Department's own guidelines, which indicate that a crime motivated ''in whole or in part'' by bias should be considered a hate crime.

''Given the public visibility of the two women as lesbian activists, . . . the gay and lesbian community, locally and nationally, is very much upset and disturbed by these murders,'' wrote Paras. ''The quotes (by Acremant) . . . have heightened the alarm and concern.''

Paras also asked Reno to establish a program for monitoring a perceived rise in violence against gays and lesbians in states where anti-gay referendums are on the ballot. Ellis and Abdill were vocal in opposing two such efforts, both unsuccessful, in Oregon in 1992 and 1994.

No one at the Justice Department could be reached for comment yesterday.

At his arraignment yesterday for aggravated murder, kidnapping and robbery, Acremant wore leg irons, slippers and green jail garb. The 27-year-old also says he killed a man in California earlier this fall.

 

 

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

 

 

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Copyright 1995 The Times Mirror Company  

Los Angeles Times

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December 20, 1995, Wednesday, Home Edition

SECTION: Life & Style; Part E; Page 1; View Desk

LENGTH: 2533 words

HEADLINE: NO PLACE TO REST;

THEY WANTED THE CHARM -- AND THE SECURITY -- OF LIFE IN A SMALL TOWN. BUT IT ALL WENT TRAGICALLY WRONG FOR ROXANNE ELLIS AND MICHELLE ABDILL, KILLED, PERHAPS, BECAUSE THEY WERE IN LOVE.

BYLINE: By KIM MURPHY, TIMES STAFF WRITER

BODY:

   This is a town of grassy hills dotted with barns, a shopping mall where Sears is the big draw and a downtown, draped in winter frost and Christmas lights, five blocks long. No wonder legions of Californians have been driving in over the Siskiyous, plunking down their savings for a house or a small farm, and staying.

Since Jerry Lausmann moved here in 1942 -- he's been mayor five terms, only one man ever tried to run against him -- Medford has busted out from a town of 11,500 to more than 55,000.

Five years ago, Roxanne Ellis and Michelle Abdill left the increasingly uneasy atmosphere of Colorado Springs, Colo., where people objected to their lesbian lifestyle, to live in a small town where merchants in the stores would know who they were and they'd see faces they knew on the street when they went outside.

It worked. The two women started a successful property management business and got elected to the board of their church. They gave lectures at the schools on lesbian lifestyles and appeared on TV on behalf of local gay rights causes. They bought an old Craftsman-style house and fixed it up, cooked elaborate Mexican meals from scratch, became a pair of doting grandmas to Ellis' 3-year-old granddaughter.

They slipped into a friendly network of gay men and lesbians from places like Los Angeles and San Francisco who had found that, like much of the rest of America, they wanted a safe and comfortable place in which to grow old.

Veterans of urban violence sadly will find little to shock in the finale to their story: The bodies of the two women were found earlier this month in the back of Ellis' pickup, their hands and feet bound together with duct tape, each shot twice in the head. But in Medford, a postcard town suddenly forced to examine its own underbelly, there is much about the past weeks that has shaken what it imagined about itself.

Although Robert James Acremant -- the 27-year-old suspect arrested Dec. 13 in the case -- reportedly said he shot the women during a robbery attempt, gay rights organizations throughout the country have demanded a fuller explanation. And Medford itself has had to come to terms with a growing intolerance toward homosexuality.

The deaths of Ellis, 53, and Abdill, 42, come at a time when Oregon has narrowly defeated two statewide ballot measures prohibiting special legal protections for homosexuals -- and conservative groups have launched new campaigns in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Medford and surrounding Jackson County are among the jurisdictions that approved local anti-gay rights ordinances in 1993, although the measures have since been tied up in court.

Nationally, gay rights organizations say the move to limit legal protections for homosexuals has led to a surge in violence against gay men and lesbians. Anti-gay murders have nearly doubled in the years since such initiatives emerged in Oregon, Colorado, Idaho and Maine, and a total of 151 anti-gay murders were reported nationally from 1992 to 1994, according to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

"Although a suspect has been apprehended, much to the relief of all who knew the couple, we as a community have many unanswered questions and persistent concerns," the task force said in a statement Thursday. "Like many in the Medford community, our concerns and suspicions about the motives of this crime cannot be fully assuaged until we understand the connection between anti-gay prejudice and the risk of hate crimes against gay people."

The case of Ellis and Abdill has prompted gay organizations to demand a Justice Department inquiry into the link between hate crimes and anti-gay ballot initiatives, and it also has drawn a flood of financial contributions from around the country into Medford, where the couple's friends are hoping to build a gay community center.

At a memorial service for the two women last week, Lausmann declared Medford a hate-free city, and city leaders have launched a series of meetings with the community to determine what that will mean and how it can be implemented. Flags around the city were flown at half-staff last week.

"Whatever happens, this case will have had a lasting effect," Lausmann said in an interview. "There's been a very slowly growing groundswell of this kind of thing (intolerance). But this case has brought a lot of understanding between the gay community and the straight community. There was so much sorrow and revulsion over this thing that it's just not going to go away."

*

Ellis and Abdill met in Colorado, where Ellis was working as an obstetrical nurse and Abdill got a job in the same doctor's office. Ellis was divorced, with two children, but the two women realized that the bond of friendship between them was growing into something more, and they committed to each other as lifetime partners.

Wanting to get out of Colorado, they joined Abdill's mother in Medford, where she had started a real estate school. Once there, they started their own property management business, hiring Ellis' daughter Lorri to work in the office.

The two women quickly eased into the community, becoming outspoken activists in the fight against the two anti-gay rights initiatives in 1992 and 1994. They appeared on television and at fundamentalist Christian churches, bringing the message that biblical scripture does not condemn homosexuals.

"They were tremendously brave in quiet and unobtrusive ways," recalls friend Laura Hamilton, who came to Medford from San Francisco a few years ago because of its comfortable, small-town atmosphere. "They weren't hugely public or anything. But they were eloquent one on one."

When two friends were dying of AIDS last year, Abdill and Ellis went to their home daily, bringing meals, changing bedpans, adjusting IVs and working in the yard.

"I spent a lot of time with that family, and I never heard any one of them say anything negative. It was always just a whole lot of love," said Rhonda Loftis, a transplant from Long Beach. "They complemented each other, their personalities. This is how I'm going to memorialize them: Michelle was the flame that burns, and Roxanne was the candle that supported her, and gave her this energy and fuel to shine."

The two women were frequently seen toting around Lorri's daughter, Hannah, who called Ellis "grandma" and Abdill "baba." Cherie Garland, a close friend of the couple whose own two children are homosexual, made Hannah a T-shirt playing off the booklet often waved around by anti-gay groups, "Heather Has Two Mommies." The T-shirt Hannah wears says, "Hannah Has Two Grandmas."

Garland is another immigrant from Southern California -- from Pomona. She said she has encountered a rising homophobic sentiment that has been part of the backdrop in Medford. A few years ago, she and her husband began getting anonymous calls about their son. "Is that bastard queer son of yours dead yet?" the man said. "Why don't you take a gun and shoot him?"

"The ignorance is astounding. Absolutely astonishing," Garland said. "Last night my husband talked to his sister in Texas. He was explaining to her how wonderful these women were and why we were grieving. Her response was, 'Well, I hope you're not going to turn gay.' He was undone. Just undone."

*

The Portland-based Coalition for Human Dignity has tracked a number of ultraconservative, racist groups operating in the Medford area, including a chapter of the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations, Christian Identity, the Ku Klux Klan and two citizens' militias.

The Oregon Citizens Alliance, the powerful conservative group that sponsored the two previous anti-gay rights ballot initiatives and is collecting signatures for a third, has said it has no connections to any violence against homosexuals. But director Lon Mabon said sentiment in Oregon is even stronger now in favor of legislation prohibiting special legal protections based on sexual orientation.

"I think we'll be successful," said Mabon, noting that last year's initiative fell just short of 49% of the vote. "I think more people are realizing what we said eight or nine years ago, that there's an agenda to make normal in American culture certain sexual behaviors. There are more instances of diversity training, more things coming to light about multiculturalism, that homosexuality is presented as normal in AIDS education, and there's nothing in place, nothing in the law, to stop it."

Medford police say they have no evidence that the two women's murders were a hate crime, but they are not yet ruling it out.

"We're going to take it very slowly, not jumping to any conclusions," said police spokesman Sgt. Mike Moran.

Although Acremant, the suspect, has told several people that he had simply intended to rob the women, he has also said it "crossed my mind a couple of times" that they were lesbians. The families and representatives for the gay community here say the facts don't fit with a simple robbery, and the authorities admit there are lingering unanswered questions.

Police believe Ellis made contact with her killer at 11 a.m. on Dec. 4, when she made an appointment to show a rental property in northeast Medford. She failed to respond to frequent pages from her daughter later in the day, and at 4 p.m., Lorri got a vague call from her mother saying she was going shopping. Lorri was disconcerted; it wasn't like Ellis to simply go off shopping on a busy day and not respond to pages.

At 5 p.m., Abdill said she was leaving the office to go help Ellis, whose car reportedly wouldn't start. No one knows if the call came from Ellis or someone else. Later, Lorri drove over to the complex where her mother was going to be showing the apartment and saw the pickup, but said it pulled away from her as she tried to follow it.

Neither woman was ever seen alive again. Ellis' truck with the two bodies in the back of it was found in a parking lot on the other side of town three days later.

Police now believe Ellis was with the suspect all afternoon. There was nothing wrong with her car, they said.

After widespread publicity about the case, a woman who had moved to Medford from California three weeks earlier with her son phoned a police tip line to say she believed her son, Acremant -- an MBA graduate from San Francisco's Golden Gate University and an employee at a trucking company in Los Angeles until May -- might have committed the murders.

Police contacted authorities in Visalia, where Acremant had also lived earlier this year, and found he was also under investigation there in the Oct. 3 disappearance and suspected homicide of one of his friends. He was tracked down to a Stockton motel room a week ago and arrested.

In a jailhouse interview with the San Francisco Examiner in Stockton, Acremant said he tried to rob the women because of his frustration when he couldn't find another position after quitting his job at Roadway Trucking in Los Angeles. He said not having money became "a major stressor," and he broke up with his girlfriend because he didn't have enough money to visit her in Las Vegas.

He told the newspaper that he planned to get money from the property management firm by luring Abdill and Ellis to a vacant apartment. Killing them was simply a sudden impulse, he said, but he also admitted he knew and didn't like the fact that they were lesbians.

"I don't care for lesbians," he said. "I couldn't help but think that she's 54 years old and had been dating that woman for 12 years: Isn't that sick?" He added, "That's someone's grandma, for God's sake. Could you imagine my grandma a lesbian with another woman? I couldn't believe that. It crossed my mind a couple times, lesbo grandma, what a thing, huh?"

In a subsequent interview with the Oregonian, Acremant said there was a common thread to the killings of the two women and his friend, Scott George, who police believe Acremant shot before coming to Oregon. After Acremant told his father where he had hidden George's body, police Monday morning found a body believed to be his at the bottom of a mine shaft on the father's ranch outside Stockton.

"You have to know something about pathology, something about signatures," Acremant told the Oregonian. "The definition of a mass murder is more than two murders as part of the same act. What was the act? That's the big question."

Authorities in Tulare County believe Acremant also burst into the home of a 20-year-old family friend there the day before his arrest last week, handcuffing her, holding her at gunpoint and demanding money.

*

Leaders of Medford's gay community say they still aren't convinced the killing of Abdill and Ellis was simply a robbery.

"We know the killer enacted a deliberate, calculated process of entrapment. We know the killer wanted both victims. We know that money and credit cards were left at the scene. We know that the murderer killed the victims execution-style -- bound at the hands and feet, gagged and blindfolded before being shot twice in the head at close range," community leaders said at a news conference last week. "We want our suspicions to be addressed, and we need our concerns to be laid to rest so we can move on in peace."

Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. John Bondurant said he is less inclined than he was to consider the killings a hate crime. But he also said he does not believe the intent was simply a robbery.

"I can't say for sure, but I personally don't believe that robbery was the motive," he said. "It may have been part of it, but there's just too much evidence there that doesn't point to a robbery. There's no property of theirs that he took. There were purses, wallets, jewelry, cell phones and money that was not taken. So that to me does not point to a robbery."

The arrest, meanwhile, has done little to ease the fears of lesbians in Medford, who wonder whether the small town haven they longed for is as safe as they believed.

"There's a tremendous sense of fear, and I don't think it's ended because of this arrest. (Acremant) represents a faction we all know is in this community and in this country. For me personally, he's just one of many people out there who mean me harm, and that's something I go through my day with consciously," Hamilton said.

She added that she often gets "weird looks" when she pulls into a convenience store, and then realizes it's because of her bumper sticker, which says, "We Are Everywhere."

"There are people out there who are aggressively threatened by me driving around with that bumper sticker," she said. "I came from the Bay Area, where there was more vocalized outrage. Here, it's more subtle."

Robert Bray, spokesman for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in San Francisco and a friend of Abdill and Ellis, said the case reflects the kind of problems typical in conservative small towns.

When the two women moved to Medford, "I remember wondering why would they do something like that, move to a place like Medford? But I realized they appreciated those same small-town values that everybody else does -- a close-knit community, everybody takes care of each other," he said. "Until the time comes when we know that gay people can live safely in small towns, then our souls will never rest easily."

GRAPHIC: Photo, Robert James Acremant reportedly said he shot them during a robbery attempt but gay rights activists are demanding a fuller explanation. BOB GALBRAITH / Associated Press; Photo, Dan Abdill and Lorri Ellis, with her daughter, Hannah, grieve at a memorial service for his sister and her mother, partners in business and in life who were found slain in the back of a pickup truck. BILL McCLAIN / Mail Tribune, Medford, Ore.; Photo, Roxanne Ellis, left, and Michelle Abdill, at top, were found shot in the head earlier this month.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: December 21, 1995

 

 

 

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Copyright 1995 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company  

The Houston Chronicle

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December 18, 1995, Monday, 3 STAR Edition

SECTION: a; Pg. 4

LENGTH: 697 words

HEADLINE: Shooting called 'American way';

Accused killer denied slaying women because they were gay

BYLINE: STEVEN CHI; San Francisco Examiner

DATELINE: STOCKTON, Calif.

BODY:

   STOCKTON, Calif. - The man charged with killing two Oregon

women said ""I don't care for lesbians,'' but claims he didn't

shoot Roxanne Ellis and Michelle Abdill because of their

sexual orientation.

Robert James Acremant, 27, said in a jailhouse interview that

he just got an urge to shoot the two businesswomen during a

robbery - that it was just part of ""the American way. ''

Dressed in a raspberry-red jump suit and shackled at the

waist, Acremant appeared for the interview unshaven, saying

that San Joaquin County Jail officials would not allow him to

shave for fear that he would attempt suicide.

Asked what he liked about murder, he said: ""It's not a 'like'

feeling. It's maybe a little relieving. It's interesting. ''

""It's no different than shooting your chicken that just lost

in a cockfight or putting your sick dog to sleep or shooting

at tin cans,'' Acremant continued. ""I really haven't cared

about people my whole life. ''

He said the killings of Ellis, 54, and Abdill, 42, in Medford,

Ore., on Dec. 4, and - before them - his friend, Scott George,

in Visalia on Oct. 3, were the inevitable result of his

frustration at not meeting his life's goal of being ""happy,''

which meant being a rich man.

Though he earned a master's degree in business administration

from Golden Gate University in San Francisco in half the time

it normally takes, he said, his choice of a career in business

turned out to be a mistake.

""Getting the business degree was a waste of time,'' he said.

""There are too many business grads out there. If I had chosen

another field, all this may not have happened.

In May, Acremant quit his $ 40,000-a-year job at Roadway

Trucking in Los Angeles because he felt he wasn't going to get

ahead. But ""nobody would hire me,'' he added. ""I still don't

understand it. ''

Frustrated by his failure to find a job that would help him

achieve financial security and depressed over recent rejection

by a girlfriend - a Las Vegas stripper - he said he began to

explore his darker side.

""I was always holding in my anger as long as I can remember,

even as a kid, but as a kid you could never do much,'' he said.

""I guess I've always felt that when someone (ticked) me off,

that deep inside I could shoot them. ''

Acremant began reading up on guns, bombs, surveillance

techniques, and even how to manufacture drugs such as

methamphetamines, as a way of making his fortune. Robbery, he

said, was another alternative.

He said that he used to tell his Air Force buddies: "" 'If I

ever get desperate, I could always go shoot people and just

take what they got. ' It's the American way. I'm just one of

the Americans who didn't make it doing that,'' he said. ""It's

what this country is built on, taking from others. I tried my

best. It just wasn't meant to be. Guess it's just fate. ''

Acremant said the killing started after a night of drinking

withGeorge. ""George didn't piss me off. I had my gun on the

right side of the seat. I just picked it up and shot him in

the back of the head.

""I had just built a silencer for my handgun, so - maybe it was

a way to test it out. I don't know,'' he said, laughing. ""I'd

always wondered what it would be like to kill somebody,

whether it was this incredible thing,'' Acremant said. ""It

ain't. It was like pow! ... nothing. ''

Acremant said he never planned to kill the two Oregon women

either. He said he wanted to rob a property management firm by

arranging to see a town house and then taking money from the

owner.

After meeting Ellis at a town house and eventually luring

Abdill there, he plotted to move both women to another

location to avoid being tracked down.

It wasn't until he forced them to lie in the back of their

pickup truck that he felt like shooting them in the back of

the head.

""All of a sudden I just looked down and had that feeling,'' he

said. ""It was definitely an urge. I didn't think about it, not

even a moment. ''

Acremant denied killing Ellis and Abdill, gay rights activists

who lived and worked together, because they were lesbians.

""It wasn't the motivator,'' he said.

 

 

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: December 19, 1995

 

 

 

 

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Copyright 1995 Journal Sentinel Inc.  

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

December 18, 1995 Monday Final

SECTION: News Pg. 6

LENGTH: 70 words

HEADLINE: Suspect says he shot 2 lesbians in robbery

SOURCE: Journal Sentinel wire services

DATELINE: San Francisco

BODY:

   A man accused of killing two Oregon women says the slayings had nothing to do with his victims being lesbians, although he believed their lifestyle was "sick."

Robert James Acremant, 27, has said he knew Roxanne Ellis and Michelle Abdill were lesbians before he shot them Dec. 4 in Medford, Ore., and left their bodies in a pickup truck. But he said he killed them because he was frustrated at not being rich.

LOAD-DATE: December 20, 1995

 

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Copyright 1995 Star Tribune  

Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)

December 18, 1995, Metro Edition

SECTION: News; Pg. 5A

LENGTH: 600 words

HEADLINE: Suspect says he just wondered what it would be like to kill

SOURCE: San Francisco Examiner

DATELINE: Stockton, Calif.

BODY:

   The man charged with killing two Oregon women said "I don't care for lesbians" but contends that he didn't shoot Roxanne Ellis and Michelle Abdill because of their sexual orientation.

Robert James Acremant, 27, said last week at the San Joaquin County jail that he just got an urge to shoot the businesswomen during a robbery - that it was "the American way."

Asked what he liked about murder, he said, "It's not a 'like' feeling. It's maybe a little relieving. It's interesting." He added, "I really haven't cared about people my whole life."

He said the killings of three people were the inevitable result of his frustration at not meeting his life's goal of being happy, which meant being a rich man. He is suspected of killing Ellis, 54, and Abdill, 42, in Medford, Ore., on Dec. 4, and his friend Scott George in Visalia, Calif., on Oct. 3.

Though he earned a master's degree in business administration from Golden Gate University in San Francisco in half the time it normally takes, he said, his choice of a career in business was a mistake. "There are too many business grads out there. If I had chosen another field, all this may not have happened."

In May, Acremant quit his $ 40,000-a-year job at Roadway Trucking in Los Angeles because he felt he wasn't going to get ahead. But "nobody would hire me," he said. "I still don't understand it."

Frustrated by his failure to find a high-paying job and depressed over recent rejection by a girlfriend - a Las Vegas stripper - he said he began to explore his darker side.

Already, in the past year he had become a heavy drinker. "Sometimes when I drink, I get angry," he said.

Acremant began reading up on guns, bombs, surveillance techniques and even how to manufacture drugs as a way of making his fortune. Robbery, he said, was another alternative.

Acremant said the killing started after a night of drinking with George. Acremant was driving.

"George didn't piss me off. I had my gun on the right side of the seat. . . . I just picked it up and shot him in the back of the head. I had just built a silencer for my handgun, so - maybe it was a way to test it out. I don't know," he said, laughing.

"I'd always wondered what it would be like to kill somebody, whether it was this incredible thing," Acremant said. "It ain't. It was like pow! . . . nothing."

He wouldn't say how he disposed of the body. Visalia police still are treating George's disappearance as a missing person case. Acremant waived his right to an extradition hearing Friday and will be returned to Oregon.

Acremant said he never planned to kill the two women. He said he wanted to rob a property management firm by arranging to see a townhouse and then taking money from the owner.

After meeting Ellis at a townhouse and eventually luring Abdill there, he plotted to move them elsewhere to avoid being tracked down. When he forced them to lie in the back of their pickup, he said, he felt like shooting them in the back of the head.

"All of a sudden I just looked down and had that feeling. It was definitely an urge. I didn't think about it, not even a moment."

Acremant denied that he killed Ellis and Abdill, gay-rights activists who lived and worked together, because they were lesbians.

"I don't care for lesbians," he said. "Bisexual women don't bother me a bit.

"I couldn't help but think that she's 54 years old and had been dating that woman for 12 years; isn't that sick?" he said. But he said homophobia didn't make him pull the trigger.

 

 

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: December 20, 1995

 

 

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Copyright 1995 The New York Times Company  

The New York Times

December 15, 1995, Friday, Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section A;  Page 34;  Column 4;  National Desk 

LENGTH: 365 words

HEADLINE: Robbery Cited In the Killings Of 2 Lesbians

BYLINE:  AP 

DATELINE: PORTLAND, Ore., Dec. 14

BODY:

   The father of the suspect in the slayings of two lesbian-rights advocates said his son snapped under business and personal pressure and shot the women in a botched robbery attempt after killing another person.

The authorities converged on a motel in Stockton, Calif., on Wednesday and arrested Robert James Acremant, 27, on charges of murdering Roxanne Ellis, 53, and Michelle Abdill, 42, in Medford, Ore. An extradition hearing will be held on Friday in San Joaquin County Superior Court, the Stockton police said.

The victims were found bound, gagged and shot in the head in the back of their pickup truck.

The suspect's father, Kenneth Acremant of Stockton, said his son told him during a visit at the jail that he killed the women when his attempt at robbing them went awry. "He said he needed the money to get out of the country," Mr. Acremant said.

The slayings alarmed many gay men and lesbians, who feared that the women were killed because of their gay rights activities, but the police, prosecutors and the suspect's father said there was no indication that the crimes had anything to do with anti-homosexual beliefs.

Mr. Acremant also said his son admitted killing a friend, Scott George, 23, of Visalia, Calif., on Oct. 3 in a drunken fit of rage.

The police were led to the suspect by a phone tip from his mother.

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

The younger Mr. Acremant knew Ms. Ellis through a property management agency the women ran. He had been shown the apartment where the women disappeared two weeks before the killings.

The two disappeared on Dec. 4 after Ms. Ellis showed an apartment in Medford and later called Ms. Abdill for help starting the truck, which had stalled. Their bodies were found three days later in the truck at the apartment complex.

The elder Mr. Acremant said that as part of the robbery attempt his son told Ms. Ellis to call Ms. Abdill.

Mr. Acremant was also accused of an attempted kidnapping near Visalia the day after the killings.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH