Washington County Cold Case detectives believe the disappearance of a man and an unsolved murder could be linked — and they’re seeking help from the public to find the missing piece.
A convoluted web entangled with aliases shrouds the case of Paul Evers St. Claire, a 52-year-old who vanished in 1996.
During an investigation into the disappearance, detectives uncovered how St. Claire was born Lloyd Adam Buzzard and lived under the assumed name since the early 1970s. As St. Claire, he moved to Oregon and became involved in various businesses — during which he would cross paths with a man known as Frank Tidwell.
According to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Tidwell was one of multiple names used by Robert Stroh: a man reputed to have a violent criminal past.
Stroh, believed to be a silent partner in multiple businesses within the Portland area and outside the state, lived with a female relative who became close friends with St. Claire, authorities said. The cities of residence for St. Claire and Stroh were not mentioned by authorities in the call for information.
Suspicion surrounds the friendship between St. Claire and the woman, which investigators believe contributed to the man’s disappearance. Stroh was reported to be the last person to see St. Claire.
Just a week after St. Claire was reported missing, Washington County Sheriff’s Office detectives began investigating Marshall Bond, a suspect in the sexual assault of a teenage girl.
But Bond was just one of many guises used by David Stroh — Robert Stroh’s younger brother.
Akin to his sibling, David Stroh had an extensive track record and was described by today's authorities as “violent and dangerous.” In the process of their investigation, detectives learned that St. Claire may have had a friendship with David Stroh’s estranged wife.
David Stroh disappeared not long after the sexual assault was reported, and his brother told investigators that he may have moved to Wyoming.
An arrest warrant was issued for David Stroh after he was indicted for the sexual assault by a Washington County grand jury, but both local and federal authorities could not locate the man.
Detectives later spoke with a person who recalled driving David Stroh to a business in Clackamas. When they arrived, Robert Stroh was waiting there, and David Stroh was never seen again.
Fast forward a few months, skeletal remains were found in a remote area of Grant County in 1997 and 1998, which investigators determined were of a male who died by homicide around May or June 1996. Although his identity was not known at the time, advances in genetic genealogy helped police identify the victim as David Stroh in 2019.
Robert Stroh died in 2013, perhaps taking clues about what happened to both David Stroh and St. Claire with him to the grave.
Now, the Washington County Sheriff's Office is looking for new leads and information in relation to the two cold cases. Those with any information related to St. Claire’s disappearance or the murder of David Stroh are urged to contact Detective Tim Miller with Washington County Sheriff’s Office at 503-846-2690.
Heating up investigations
Recent funding has helped spark a fire to keep investigators hot on the trail for cases that have fallen cold.
Near the end of 2023, the Washington County officials secured a $533,200 federal grant to investigate and prosecute old cases using DNA evidence. Similar funding was used to establish the Cold Case Unit in 2020.
Two breakthroughs in decades-old homicides were revealed over the past two years, including indictments against suspects in the killings of two teenagers and a young mother.
In March 2023, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office made an arrest in the 1988 murder of Deborah Lee Atrops , a 30-year-old woman found strangled to death in the trunk of her car in Beaverton.
Deputies asked for search warrants in October 2022 to fingerprint Atrops' daughter and ex-husband, looking to use "new scientific techniques and equipment" to determine whose DNA was found in the trunk.
Robert Elmer Atrops, the woman’s estranged husband, was arrested at his Newberg home in connection with the murder. Atrops has pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder charge; a trial is scheduled for Oct. 15.
Investigators also broke news in 2022 that a suspect was arrested for shooting and killing two teenage boys , Peter Zito Jr. and Donny Bartron, in 1974.
The case went dark for nearly five decades, until authorities said ballistic testing matched a gun that Steven Paul Criss used in a Fort Lewis murder in 1976.
Court documents show that prosecutors dismissed all charges against Criss in January after a key witness — who claimed Criss confessed — abruptly died last November and a Washington County Circuit Court Judge ruled against the admissibility of firearm evidence.
While the Cold Case Unit initially focused on homicides, the continued federal funding will also allow authorities to delve into sexual assault cases as well.
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