A 66-year-old Gaston man is in the Washington County Jail without bail, charged with murdering his 85-year-old neighbor more than 32 years ago.

Randall Joseph Gall was arrested Tuesday, Aug. 4, after a Washington County Grand Jury indicted him on one count of second-degree murder in the death of Veta Hardebeck, who was found dead Feb. 16, 1994, according to the Washington County District Attorney's Office.

The Washington County Sheriff's Office Tactical Negotiations Team carried out the arrest at Gall's home in Gaston.

The DA's Cold Case Unit, which serves all of Washington County including Tigard, Tualatin, Bull Mountain and Durham, reopened the decades-old case and used advanced DNA analysis to build the case against Gall.

Hardebeck was found at her rural farm near the 10000 block of Southwest Hardebeck Road in Gaston, The Banks Post reported. She lived alone. Investigators initially believed she had died from a medical condition or an accident, but an autopsy determined she had been killed. Investigators believe Gall lived on a neighboring property at the time.

Despite an investigation in 1994, the case went unsolved for three decades.

The break came through a $14,000 grant awarded in 2025 by the Oregon Cold Case Investigators Association and the Brothers Car Collection. That money paid for multiple items of evidence to be sent to a private lab for advanced DNA testing and analysis, which led directly to the indictment.

"Using today's science to solve yesterday's crimes helps ensure we bring justice to victims, their families, and our community," District Attorney Kevin Barton said in a statement on Wednesday, Aug. 5.

When the grant was announced in 2025, Senior Deputy District Attorney Allison Brown, who manages the Cold Case Unit, said she was hopeful the funding would provide new leads into Hardebeck's murder.

The Cold Case Unit was founded in 2020 through a federal "Prosecuting Cold Cases Using DNA" grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance, in partnership with the Washington County Sheriff's Office. The grant funds two cold case detectives and a forensic consultant. The unit identified 14 homicides eligible for renewed investigation, according to The Banks Post.

The Hardebeck case is the unit's third solved homicide. In March 2023, it secured a conviction in the 1988 murder of Deborah Atrops. In February 2026, it worked with Hillsboro police to link the 1992 murder of Elizabeth Wasson to serial killer Cesar Barone.

Anyone with information about a Washington County cold case can submit an anonymous tip at p3tips.com (tip ID 823).