A 68-year-old Newberg man suspected of killing his estranged wife in 1988 pleaded not guilty Thursday to a second-degree murder charge in Washington County Circuit Court. Washington County sheriff’s deputies arrested Robert Elmer Atrops at his home around 4 a. m. Thursday. He is being held without bail at the Washington County Jail, the Washington County District Attorney Kevin Barton said in a statement Thursday. Detectives assigned to the cold case unit of the district attorney’s office re-opened the death investigation in 2021 – 33 years after Atrops first reported his wife was missing. Although still married, the couple had separated in June 1988. Atrops, 34, was living in the couple’s Sherwood home while his wife, 30-year-old Deborah Lee Atrops, lived in a Salem apartment with their adopted 8-month-old daughter. On Nov. 29, 1988, Atrops picked up his daughter from her babysitter in Newberg while his wife was at a hair appointment in Tigard. She was scheduled to pick up their child at the Sherwood home by 8 p. m. Atrops told investigators his wife never showed up. Investigators said Atrops called his wife’s friends and family about her whereabouts, then reported her missing to Tigard police. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office created an official missing person report the next day. Atrops’ car – a black 1988 Honda Accord – was entered into a law enforcement database as a car involved in a missing person case. Two days later, a Beaverton city public works employee called police to report a suspicious abandoned car parked at the dead end of Southwest Scholls Ferry Road. Beaverton police officers determined the car, which they found with its driver’s side window down and without license plates, was Atrops’, the sheriff’s office said. Witnesses told police the car had been parked there since the day before, officials said. Washington County sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene and found the body of Atrops’ wife inside the trunk of the car. Based on how her body was positioned, it appeared she was placed in the trunk after she died, officials said. An autopsy the next day revealed she was physically assaulted and strangled to death, officials said. Investigators “expended a significant amount of time and effort in their investigation,” but the case went cold until two years ago, the sheriff’s office said. The Washington County District Attorney’s Office formed a Cold Case Unit in 2020 with a grant from the U. S. Department of Justice. The unit investigates and prosecutes violent cold cases involving identified DNA associated with possible suspects. The unit has two detectives, a forensic DNA consultant, a victim advocate and a prosecutor, officials said. Starting in May 2021, detectives and investigators assigned to the case re-interviewed multiple witnesses and had forensic evidence re-examined. The details of the case were presented Tuesday to a Washington County grand jury, which indicted Robert Elmer Atrops on one count of second-degree murder. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday it also had re-opened a cold case homicide from 1983. in February after detectives interviewed him. — Catalina Gaitán, , @catalingaitan_.