Prosecutors said Bobby Alsup killed Kaley Snow, hid her body, then returned days later to burn the shed where he left her.

OREGON CITY, Ore. — A Clackamas County judge sentenced Bobby Lee Alsup to life in prison on March 25 after prosecutors said he killed 31-year-old Kaley Ann Snow with a hammer in her home, hid her body in a shed and set the building on fire days later.

The sentence closed a two-year case that moved from a suspicious fire on Southeast Flavel Drive to a murder conviction backed by cellphone records, blood evidence and prosecutors’ claim that Alsup tried to erase traces of the crime. A jury convicted Alsup on March 17, 2026, of second-degree murder, first-degree arson, first-degree theft, first-degree abuse of a corpse and unlawful use of a weapon. The immediate stakes at sentencing were how long he would remain in prison before he could seek parole and whether the court would stack that punishment on top of other time he already owed.

Prosecutors said the case began to unfold on March 17, 2024, when cellphone data placed Alsup at Snow’s home for about four hours. They told jurors that was when he struck her twice in the head with a hammer. Snow had rented him a room only weeks earlier. By March 21, investigators said, Alsup returned just after midnight, poured gasoline on Snow’s body and the shed, and lit the fire. Firefighters who responded found her remains after the blaze was put out. In court filings and public statements, prosecutors said Alsup also texted Snow after her death to make it seem she was still alive and to build an alibi for himself.

At trial, prosecutors described a scene they said showed both violence and cleanup. Investigators found a large pool of blood on the living room floor, according to the district attorney’s office, and said it had been covered by furniture. They also recovered a hammer from a toilet with blue-green cleaning liquid in it and found Snow’s blood and DNA on the hammer’s face and neck. Snow’s blood and DNA were also found on Alsup’s shoes and sweatpants, prosecutors said. Senior Deputy District Attorney Stacey Borgman told jurors that Alsup’s physical and digital DNA was “all over that crime scene,” while Senior Deputy District Attorney Bill Golden said the body had been wrapped in a blanket and left in the shed. Authorities also said Alsup made internet searches asking whether police had found Snow’s body or started a missing-person inquiry.

The case drew added attention because of what prosecutors said had happened before the killing. During trial, they introduced messages Snow had sent a friend weeks earlier saying she feared Alsup might try to kill her. Prosecutors also said Snow and Alsup had started a secret romantic relationship after he met her through his girlfriend, who was friends with Snow. Snow complained to a friend that he was acting “sketchy,” was behind on rent and had begun taking items from the home and selling them online, according to reporting from the trial. The district attorney’s office later said that theft pattern continued after her death. What remains less clear from the public record is the full sequence inside the home between the final known messages and the killing itself, because no public account has laid out a minute-by-minute reconstruction of the attack.

Alsup’s lawyers argued that he did not kill Snow but found her already dead and panicked. Prosecutors called that claim implausible. The jury rejected the defense and convicted him on all major counts. On March 25, Clackamas County Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Jones sentenced Alsup to life with the possibility of parole after 25 years. The judge also imposed 36 months on the arson charge and 16 months on the abuse-of-a-corpse charge, with the county saying Alsup must serve 352 months before he is eligible for parole. Those terms were ordered consecutive to a 70-month Washington County sentence Alsup received last year for assaulting a jail inmate. Alsup said in court that he planned to appeal.

The sentencing hearing also turned to Snow’s family, who used their time to describe what was lost. Her mother, Tracey Snow, said her daughter tried to help people and had even tried to help Alsup. In televised coverage of the hearing, she asked, “What kind of monster does that?” after describing the attack and the fire. Prosecutors also pointed to Alsup’s earlier convictions, including assault and an earlier arson case, to frame him as someone with a long record of violence. The courtroom record left one thing settled and another still pending: the conviction stands for now, but the next legal fight is likely to move to the appeals process.

For now, Alsup has been convicted and sentenced, with county officials saying he must serve decades before any parole bid. The next clear milestone is any notice of appeal filed after the March 25, 2026, sentencing.

Author note: Last updated April 9, 2026.