Natalie Morales

I think even for me, as I was reporting on this case, it was I was very conflicted.

Even our producers, we were conflicted.

But this case was cold for over 30 years, so really it was all about figuring out what new evidence could be presented at trial.

Yeah, all valid points, Anne-Marie, you know, and actually really wasn't even three hours because her appointment ended at 7.15.

She was expected back at Bob Atrop's house around 7.30, 8 o'clock.

So he's calling really less than two hours after that time frame.

And police, well, Detective O'Connell, I should say, who was one of the initial people who was on this case, he said that felt strange to him, too.

It's sort of that Shakespearean, you know, that quote, thou doth protest too much.

And prosecutors believe those phone calls were almost to try to make police believe that he wasn't involved.

Yeah.

And I should remind people, this is 1988.

This is Oregon.

So calling from one town to the other town, that could sometimes be a long distance call.

Bob lived about 30 miles from where Debbie's parents lived.

So all these phone calls should have been recorded somewhere as long distance calls on a phone bill.

So it became a big part of the mystery was where are these calls?

Now, we know that he did place these calls because he

Debbie's parents did confirm and her stepfather confirmed that they received the calls.

The babysitter confirmed that she received a call.

So the question is, where did he make the calls from?