SOLVED OR - Elizabeth Wasson, 82, ‘Avon lady’, stabbed & strangled @ home, Washington County, 23 Sept 1992, DNA- Serial Killer, Cesar Barone (deceased, 2009)

[dotr]

• Feb. 10, 2026,
• Cold case cracked: Serial killer’s DNA found on dress of beloved ‘Avon lady’
• 
  Washington County authorities say investigators assigned to a cold case unit linked Barone to the death of Elizabeth Wasson, a widow who was found dead in her home on Sept. 23, 1992.Washington County District Attorney's Office

''Forensic testing on a house dress worn by an 82-year-old Hillsboro widow found dead in her bedroom more than three decades ago confirmed what detectives long suspected.

Serial killer Cesar Barone killed Elizabeth Wasson, a mother of three known around her neighborhood as “the Avon lady” with orders stacked up on her kitchen table when she was stabbed and strangled.''

Hillsboro police Detective Megan Townsend reopened the case in 2023, one of the agency’s half-dozen cold cases, the oldest dating to 1979.
'Testing in 2018 showed male DNA at the crime scene, but no ties to a particular suspect, Townsend said in an interview Tuesday.
The high-collared dress Wasson wore on the day of her murder remained in storage in the agency’s evidence room, Townsend said.
“That was kind of one of the key items we sent down and really pushed the lab to take a second look,” she said.
The police department still had Barone’s DNA from previous investigations, which was used to link him to Wasson, Townsend said.

Cesar Barone - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

''Following his discharge from the Army, Barone moved to Hillsboro, Oregon. His primary means of income was his occasional work as a cabinetmaker, as well as a brief stint as a nursing assistant at a nursing home in Forest Grove.''

 

[dotr]

Feb 11, 2026
33-year-old cold case murder now solved

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Investigators said modern DNA technology helped them confirm a deceased serial killer murdered an 82-year-old Hillsboro woman in her home back in 1992.

Elizabeth Wasson was found murdered in her home, and investigators suspected Cesar Barone, a convicted serial killer who died in prison in 2009.

“Her husband was a pastor, so she was really involved in the church community,” Megan Townsend, a Hillsboro Police Department detective who reopened the case, said. “She was babysitting her 2-year-old granddaughter before this happened.”

‘Cases are never over’: New DNA evidence links decades-old cold case to notorious serial killer

A 33-year-old cold case has been solved in Washington County.

www.wsfa.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Dbm