GUILTY PA - Ellen Robb, 49, beaten to death, Montgomery County, 22 Dec 2006

[luthersmama]

I was out on errands and decided to view the house. I had been in that neighborhood before, but not that specific street.

The houses on each side of the street are closer together than I remembered. However, each side of the street is at a different elevation. The "uphill" side, where the Robb house is located, is about 10 feet or more above the street. The houses on the "downhill" side are at least 10 feet below the street. So no one can look straight into a house on one side of the street from the other. More private than the space between the houses might suggest.

The houses are 1970's splits. The Robbs is somewhat bigger than most of the ones on the same street. From experience with similar houses, the lower level has a garage, one large or two smaller rooms and a full or partial bath. The second level has a big living room with huge picture window, kitchen and dining room. The third level has 4 bedrooms and at least 2 baths. The kitchen is toward the rear of the second (main) level. The kitchen of the Robb house backs up to a wooded area between this neighborbood and the next one uphill, if I am correct about the floor plan.

The Robb house looks well kept. Nothing unusual about it. I couldn't sit and stare because there was alot going on. A house across the street had some kind of gathering getting going. Lots of cars and people.

 

[Gracelin]

www.montcopa.org

I have been trying to log on to the courthouse all day, it seems the server is down.
They record tax assesments and describe the house in detail room size ect..

Also we could check more on any filings. Domestic abuse cases are listed as well as divorce and criminal..

Good job describing the ride by..

Read your blog Mr. pretty interesting stuff..

 

[luthersmama]

www.montcopa.org

I have been trying to log on to the courthouse all day, it seems the server is down.
They record tax assesments and describe the house in detail room size ect..

Also we could check more on any filings. Domestic abuse cases are listed as well as divorce and criminal..

Good job describing the ride by..

Read your blog Mr. pretty interesting stuff..

I ran a criminal check on him on the PA Unified site and found nothing. The prior divorce proceeding, which was halted in 2004, is listed on the Montco site but nothing else. Montco no longer puts PFA's on the website, but I don't think she had sought one. I didn't look at the land records. I checked Rafael in Philadelphia as well. He comes up clean.

 

[strach304]

After reading Steve's blog I had this weird thought that maybe a divorce would somehow shame him and discredit him professionally. The description of their relationship before the murder isn't what we normally see in these type cases. Then there's always the possibility he didn't do it.

 

[luthersmama]

I think that if it was Rafael who did it, it was because of financial control issues.

She had had a career and "her own" cash before she quit to raise Olivia. She might have been feeling an urge to get back to work and financial independence now that Olivia is almost a teenager. I wonder if he had kept a tight string on the household purse and she was tired of being under his thumb.

I don't think the average UPenn prof would feel "shamed" about a divorce, but Rafael might not be "average".

 

[strach304]

Her previous carreer consisted of a waitress and retail and most recently a school volunteer and brownie leader. On Steve's blog the Game Theory class the professor teaches has a link on using this method for relationships. How's that for economics? So that's why I'm wondering if a divorce would be damaging to this particular professor. The apparent relationship he had with his wife looks like a class project he failed.

 

[Sheromom]

Does anyone know if his daughter is living with him again?

 

[luthersmama]

Her previous carreer consisted of a waitress and retail and most recently a school volunteer and brownie leader. On Steve's blog the Game Theory class the professor teaches has a link on using this method for relationships. How's that for economics? So that's why I'm wondering if a divorce would be damaging to this particular professor. The apparent relationship he had with his wife looks like a class project he failed.

Regardless of the source, she once had her own income. She would have no trouble getting a job again. Then she wouldn't need him so much. This might have threatened him.

Penn is so big that the students do not know much about the profs. It isn't like a small town that revolves around the college. The students wouldn't know about his marital problems unless he told them. Rafael might feel like he would lose face, but the Penn profs are a diverse group from a large geographic area who are not dependent upon one another for socializing and don't care about what the students think about them. Gut reaction from me: $$$$$ is the issue, not reputation.

 

[luthersmama]

A little problem: there is a kee missing on mi keeboard. Can u guess what it is? But I can't wait to tell u what I have found out, so please bear with me:

I got into the land records and found some interesting stuff that I think lends credence to mi theoree that Rafael is a financial control freak.

First of all, I was looking at the wrong house on mi drive-bi. I wrote down the wrong address. The right house is older and smaller. There is a photo of it on the tax assessment web page, together with a sort of floor plan.

http://propertyrecords.montcopa.org...seq=1&roll=RP&jur=&sIndex=0&idx=1&LMparent=20

Here's the more interesting thing: Rafael alone bought a different house in 1986, probablee about the time he met Ellen. Then he bought the Forest Road House in 1988. Ellen's name was not on the deed. In 1993, Ellen filed for divorce. I'm guessing that Olivia was born in 1994. In 1997,Ellen and Rafael sold the other house. I'm guessing that the title companee required Ellen's signature even though she was not on the deed. Both Ellen and Rafael's names are given both as "Rob" and as "Robb".

In 1998, Rafael transferred the Forest Road house from "Rafael Rob" and "Rafael Robb" to "Rafael Robb". Rafael Robb took out a mortgage. No Ellen.

HOWEVER, in 2000 there is a deed recorded from Rafael to Rafael and Ellen. That deed was DATED 1997 BUT NOT RECORDED UNTIL 2000.

In 2004, the divorce started in 1993 was terminated for lack of activitee on the docket.

I have seen this kind of thing before where the controlling husband feels that the house belongs to him alone since he is the one working. So he titles it to himself. Wife finds out and gets mad and scared. So she got him to sign a deed at some point but he didn't record it. Perhaps she caught on in 2000 and had a fit.

Reading some of his papers shows that he is super smart. Looks like a nice enough fellow in his photo on his web page. I don't get the whole thing about the two names. It isn't like Robb with two "Bs" is so hard to spell.

OK. Now I have to do something useful to the household...ta ta for now.

 

[strach304]

Great info LM, what does it all mean? Could she have found all this out from her lawyer when she filed for divorce and you know what hit the fan?

 

[luthersmama]

The dumb thing is that the name on the deed doesn't matter in equitable distribution in PA. She would be entitled to 1/2 of the value of the house regardless. I don't know if he was just ignorant of this or whether it was important to him to appear to have total control. Perhaps he knew the truth but she didn't and he used her misunderstanding to threaten her: "I own it all. If u divorce me, u will get nothing."

It also makes me wonder whether he was up to other financial shenanigans. Hiding assets, under-reporting income to the IRS etc. It might have all been a clever game to him. If so, and if Ellen found out, it definitelee could have precipitated things. She changed the rules of the game.

Gotta get this keeboard fixed...can't stand it !

 

[luthersmama]

Where is the $$$???

The current mortgage on the house was for $100,000. The paaments are probablee about $1000-1200 per month. So perhaps the housing costs are around $20,000 per annum? Including heat, taxes, water, sewer etc.

Looking at the Penn compensation schedule, he must be making well over $100,000 per annum. Perhaps as much as $165,000. Olivia would be eligible for a 75% tuition scholarship to go to Penn. Generous health benefits.

He drives a BMW, but that's not unusual. There have been no major improvements done to the house. It is quite modest. Doesn't look like the home of someone living an extravagent life.

Did he hide $$$??? Send it home to Israel??? Did Ellen discover something?

 

[strach304]

Ok I too was suspecting that he may have hidden assets in an Israeli account. Be interesting to know about life insurance as well if his motive turns out to be financial. Since the DA did bring up the game theory method I'm wondering if he applied it to his own situation to make a negative into a positive leaving him with everything including the daughter. Very horrible way to kill her though.

 

[Gracelin]

Good job LM!

I still can't get into the courthouse site, but sure am glad you could!

I wonder if he doesn't have another home or support a mistress somewhere.



Too bad about your'e "Y" Hubby and I had a good chuckle reading your post, very clever rewording lol..

Happy New Year!

 

[luthersmama]

Gracelin:

Use this url:

www.courts.montcopa.org

u might have to backtrack to get where u want to go, but this will get u started.

 

[lisafremont]

featuring this case. I will summarize what was stated:

"investigators believe the break-in could have been staged"
auth. have narrowed a time frame of bet. 8:15 and 10:20 am
[guest Gordan Glantz, mng. edi, Times herald,
didn't say but meant time of death, I think based on context and question]
Rafael Robb called police at 1:45 pm
he called the 10-digit local police stn. rather than 911
he was seen going in and out of some parking garages
forensics has given LE some DNA evidence kept close to their vest
he's possibly a little bit aloof
estranged, going through divorce
she had recently seen a lawyer
but they had been estranged for yrs, living in same house
she had filed once before and dismissed
police surrounded dau's school bus to meet her on way home from school
"we don't know what time he left home"
CC asks what time he says he did
GG: "I'm assuming it's some time after 10:20 am"
[This confounds me based on earlier Q/A-- perhaps an article in the Times Herald will clarify, bec. I'm confused.]
"It oculd be a little earlier."
CC: asks about surveill. of parking garages
GG says they have a "partial alibi"
CC: this was very bloody. she was bludgeoned, mostly around the head
No items missing in house, looks like a crime of passion
Perp would be bloody but they have him on surv. video?
GG remarks on the strangeness of calling local police instead of 911.
GG: "There's a lot of inconsistencies here. Auths. want people to come forward and talk about his personality." He's acting peculiar, he's a little too composed. they've beenflooded with calls, interviewing people now
"There should be some developments in this case..."
CC says she read that a friend said he was very controlling
CC to Larry Kobilinsky: Police now believe the appearance of a robbery was set up. Broken window in a door in the rear of the house.
LK: A rear door had a pane of glass that was shattered, struck from the outside, fragmenting glass all over the floor. "It appeared nobody had stepped on that glass to create more fragmentation"
CC"Or tracking it through the house" and LK agrees
CC: Leads you to think what?
LK: That someone committed the crime, went outside and smashed the window--- weapon is critical, as is the clothing of the perp. Clearly police are searching for those
CC: asks what a very violent crime with a lot of injury to the face--- what does that say?
LK: It's emotional crime of rage, not a randow event
there were defense wounds. she puit up quite a battle
tells me there was rage, emotion, anger, hostility
CC asks about cases where the spouse is suspected but also lived in the crime scene, w/o bloody clothes, weapon, how tough is it?
guest homicide det. Pat Brosnan --- w/o those things they will look at motive, alibi, personality
Brosnan comments that LE will probably turn the screws on RR, make him think they know a lot more than they do.

 

[lisafremont]

Here's a link
http://tinyurl.com/yhhvc6
to a Gordan Glantz article that sheds more light on this case...
for example, there was a DOG in the house.
I hadn't heard that.
Clearly they are closing in on Raffi Robb.
I think we will have another killer who thinks he's smarter than the cops.
How much do you want to bet?

 

[strach304]

Didn't the previous reports state RR had left around 8:10 am? Thanks for the update Lisa.

 

[lisafremont]

Didn't the previous reports state RR had left around 8:10 am? Thanks for the update Lisa.

Maybe Glantz misspoke. Substitute the earlier time for the later and his statement makes sense.

 

[lisafremont]

Have you seen Huff's blog on this subject? It even mentions this thread.

http://www.huffcrimeblog.com/