On December 5, 2022, the day before his jury trial was to begin, Jacob Matthew Nebeker, age 33, of Wilsonville, pleaded guilty to murdering his 91-year-old stepfather in January of 2021, and was sentenced to life in prison. The case was prosecuted by Chief Deputy DA Jeff Lesowski and Deputy DA Conor Jones.
Murder in the Second Degree, for which Nebeker was indicted and convicted, allows for the possibility of parole after 25 years.
After midnight on January 22, 2021, Washington County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a frantic 911 call from a residence on NW Canterwood Way in Bethany, on the Claremont Golf Course. Jacob Nebeker’s cousin reported that she had just witnessed Nebeker in the act of killing Mr. Gutjahr in a bedroom with an extension cord and a plastic bag. When deputies arrived, they found the cousin hiding on the golf course and Mr. Gutjahr deceased in a bathroom. Detectives determined that Nebeker had moved Gutjahr’s body after the killing to stage an accidental fall and had attempted to conceal other evidence. The Oregon State Medical Examiner determined that Gutjahr had died from ligature strangulation and being smothered. Corroborating DNA evidence was found on the murder weapons.
The victim, Gilbert J. Gutjahr, was a retired public administrator and Air Force Veteran. His second wife Karen Nebeker, who is Jacob Nebeker’s mother, inherited his estate, which was substantial. Karen was home at the time of the incident but was reportedly asleep at the time of the murder. She has denied any involvement and was not charged.
The Washington County DA’s Office would like to acknowledge the outstanding investigative work by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the Oregon State Police Forensic Lab, and the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office.
