Washington County investigators are using new grant funding to look for a break in the 1994 cold case homicide of Veta Hardebeck. (Submitted by the Washington County District Attorney's Office)

Over three decades after the murder of an 85-year-old woman at her Gaston farm, authorities are heating up the investigation with new funding.

The Washington County District Attorney’s Office is reexamining the cold case of Veta Hardebeck, who was found dead outside her rural home in February 1994. Initially believed to have died from natural causes or an accident while gathering firewood, an autopsy later determined she was the victim of a homicide.

Now, with the help of a $14,000 grant from the Oregon Cold Case Investigators Association and the Brother’s Car Collection, investigators have submitted multiple pieces of evidence to a private lab for advanced DNA testing — technology that didn’t exist at the time of the original investigation.

“Providing justice on unsolved murders is a priority,” District Attorney Kevin Barton said in a release. “No matter how much time has passed, we want victims and perpetrators to know that we will continue to work to solve these cases.”

The grant furthers the work of Washington County’s Cold Case Unit, launched in 2020 from federal funding to investigate violent crimes with potential DNA evidence. So far, the unit has identified 14 homicides eligible for renewed investigation — and depending on the results of this new testing, Hardebeck’s case could be next in line.

Among the unit’s notable successes is the breakthrough in the 1988 murder of Deborah Atrops, where DNA analysis linked her estranged husband, Robert Atrops, who was later indicted and convicted. That case was prosecuted by Senior Deputy District Attorney Allison Brown, head of the Cold Case Unit.

“Forensic testing capabilities have dramatically changed in the last 30 years,” Brown said. “We are hopeful this funding will provide new leads into Veta’s murder.”

Anyone with information about Hardebeck’s death — or any other cold case in Washington County — is encouraged to contact law enforcement. Confidential tips can be submitted to tinyurl.com/4cedkxk6.