“One more thing I really wanted to ask you— I think you told Brent what had happened to the shotgun. Can you tell me where you think it’s at, since you’ve had time to rest and maybe [things have] come back to you a little better? You told him last night it was between Rome and Cartersville. Was it in the river? There’s only one river between Rome and Cartersville, the Etowah River.”
“That’s what I told him,” Barbara said. “I thought it was the Etowah.”
“Were you driving the vehicle, or was it Bob?”
“He was driving at first. Bob can’t see, there’s certain distances Bob can’t see. He had eye surgery.”
“Were you driving when y’all were at the river, or was Bob driving?”
Barbara said that she was driving, and said that Bob threw the gun out of the truck window.
“You know why I think he threw it away?” she asked. “Because he put the shells in the gun with his fingers and he knew y’all were gonna get his fingerprints.”
Hicks asked Barbara if the gun had been wrapped in the green plastic wrap that was found in the apartment and around Darlene Roberts’s neck.
“It was wrapped in that plastic stuff way, way before that,” she said.
“Okay, but when he threw it in the river, did it have the plastic stuff wrapped around it?”
“If I remember correctly, yes,” Barbara told him. “But this is what’s haunting me. He never said, ‘Okay, she’s dead.’ He never said, ‘Okay, that’s the end of her.’ He never said anything like that. He just said, ‘I bet that scared the shit out of her.’ And I don’t remember seeing, you know, I’ve cleaned many a fish and I know how much they bleed and stuff and they are slaughtered. I would have seen something. I would have seen red in the water.”
“Possibly, or, you know, you might not have,” Hicks said.
Barbara suddenly laughed loudly. “I don’t know,” she said, “I didn’t see any.” Then she paused and said, “That’s not funny.”
“No, ma’am, it’s not funny,” Hicks told her.
“No, it’s not,” Barbara said, “it’s just kind of a hysterical laugh.”
“It’s not funny,” Hicks said again, “but if your vision is as bad as you say it is, you may not have seen.”
“I was standing right next to him,” Barbara said. “His vision’s off between a certain distance and a certain distance, and that’s noted on the previous report, because that’s why he couldn’t see anything about what this guy had on, because he could not recognize nothing, you know. That’s why I’m very, very curious about how many shells were found.”
Hicks thought for a moment before answering.
“I’ll tell you what, if they get you over and the judge signs your extradition papers, we’ll come get you first thing in the morning and then I’ll have Brent in our office, and you said, you know, you’re more comfortable with Brent. You and Brent can sit down, and Brent can probably tell you a little bit more about the details than I can.”
Hicks looked surprised when Barbara suddenly veered off on another subject.
“See, you know, there are other things that come to mind. Like he’d always say his dad’s name was Peter.”
“You’re talking about Bob?” Hicks asked.
“And his dad’s name is Peter, and I’ve been around him many times, whenever he’d saved a person’s life doing brain surgery and stuff and they would say ... and they’d come up to him and say, ‘You saved my mother’s life, you saved my wife’s life.’ He’d say, ‘I didn’t. God did. He just gave me the instruments.’ I told [Brent] that yesterday, too.”
“Barbara,” Hicks said, “I don’t have all the answers. I can’t tell you, I wasn’t there. I can’t see through your eyes and see what happened and why it happened, and—”
“It happened because I had an affair, that’s why it happened,” she said.
“You know, you and Bob were the only two that was there that could tell us what happened. I think you’re trying to do the right thing, so let’s see if we can get you to the people over here, where you can sign the papers and we’ll come get you in the morning. I’ll have Brent there as soon as you get to Centre. And then you and Brent, and if you want me to sit down in there with y’all, or just you and Brent, or whatever, and if you think of some more things between now and then, we’ll be more than glad to sit down and talk to you.”
Barbara and Hicks talked again about getting her attorney to be present if she chose to have him there for any further questioning, and Hicks assured her that if her attorney couldn’t be there in Centre for any reason, a local attorney would be appointed for her. Then Barbara suddenly changed direction again and dropped what could prove to be a very important piece of information.
“You know, when my little sister called me and told me [Darlene] was dead, and I think that’s when I called Vernon, his first words were ‘What in the hell are you calling me for? What the hell are you calling me for?’ and I’m going, ‘I just found out.’”
Barbara began to sob.
“And if you had his phone bugged or whatever,” she told Hicks, “you’ll hear that. Because earlier, he’s trying to act like he hadn’t been around, ’cause he said, ‘They say they saw a woman around one hundred forty pounds, light brown, light blond hair, that looked like you,’ and this and that, and whatever, and all this kind of stuff. ‘You could have done anything with your hair since I haven’t seen you in five years,’ and I said, ‘No, man, we ...’ and he stopped me and said, ‘My phone is being taped,’ and stuff like that, so I was took away from it, you know?”
If Barbara’s account of the phone conversation with Vernon Roberts was accurate, he clearly did not want to acknowledge that he might have spent some intimate times with her in the months prior to Darlene’s death.
25
Barbara Ann Roberts and Robert John Schiess III were extradited to Cherokee County, Alabama, on April 21, 2006, as Barbara had wanted. She arrived early, and Schiess, who had not signed his extradition as quickly as Barbara had, was brought later. As soon as she arrived, Barbara immediately told jail officials that she wanted to talk with SA Brent Thomas again. Thomas arrived at the jail shortly before lunchtime, and he and Investigator Mark Hicks met with Barbara at 11:06 A.M.
Once again, they read Barbara her rights and told her that she would need to sign a rights waiver form before they could talk. Barbara then decided that she couldn’t make up her mind whether or not she wanted to talk again without the benefit of having an attorney present. After about five minutes of deliberation, she told the officers that she wanted to have her attorney present before she made any statement or answered any questions.
She was returned to her cell without any further conversation, the interview ending with nothing having been accomplished except a trip to the interview room. Meanwhile, at the Cherokee County Courthouse, across the street from the county jail, District Judge Sheri W. Carver set bond for both Barbara and Schiess at $1 million each.
Over the next couple of days, while Barbara was still considering another session of talk with the investigators, Investigator Bo Jolly was preparing his evidence against Bob Schiess. He presented an affidavit for a search warrant to Judge Carver, asking for a blood sample from Schiess to compare his DNA to blood found at the crime scene. There was blood inside Darlene’s vehicle and possible DNA samples that were recovered from other evidence that he believed would be a match to Schiess.
To justify his request for the blood sample, Jolly outlined the facts and evidence that tied Schiess to the crime, as well as Barbara’s statements incriminating him. Judge Carver signed Jolly’s request for the blood samples from Schiess on April 25, and the sample was collected at the Cherokee County Jail.
The next day, on April 26, Barbara once again asked to speak to the investigators. Since she had initiated the conversation, Mark Hicks and Brent Thomas were careful to advise her again of her rights, and she stated for the record that she did wish to talk to them without her
attorney being present. She was told that she had the right to stop the interview at any time, which she said she understood.
During the following conversation, Barbara jumped from one subject to another many times, giving additional details on different aspects of the investigation. She first asked if the Cherokee County district attorney (DA) had been told that she had been cooperating with the investigation. She wanted to know if he might lower her bond because of the assistance she was giving the officers.
Barbara told the officers that Darlene wasn’t chased with the car. At first, she said that she wasn’t driving the car, that she was a passenger in the car. She then said that she didn’t want to say who was driving the car, but a short time later, she said that Schiess was the driver.
Another claim Barbara made during this interview was that she and Schiess only had about three shells for the shotgun. A shot was fired at Darlene, she said, while she was standing about halfway across the pond.
Barbara said that the black Dodge pickup, in which she and Schiess had come to Alabama, had been backed in at the gate at the entrance to the pasture. Schiess had the hood up, Barbara said, and he stepped out and flagged Darlene down when she came driving up the road. Bob talked to her and she got out of the car, Barbara claimed; then Bob and Darlene struggled and he tried to tie her hands with some nylon ties, but they wouldn’t work, so he used some gauze he had with him. She couldn’t remember if the shotgun was lying on the ground at this time, and she didn’t remember whether or not she gave Schiess the gun after he tied Darlene up.
“Somehow she got loose and started running to the pasture, and I chased her on foot,” Barbara said. “Bob got into Darlene’s car and drove it to the back side of the pasture and told me to get in the car, and I did.”
Barbara said they drove around farther into the pasture, looking for Darlene.
“As we were driving around the pond, we saw ripples in the water, and then we saw her.”
Barbara said that they stopped the vehicle and Schiess got out and shot at Darlene.
“I was hysterical then, and Bob hit me with the gun and broke my glasses, and he fired more shots,” she said. “I never saw any blood and couldn’t say whether the shots hit Darlene or not.
“I thought he just fired at her to scare her,” Barbara continued. “We got back into Darlene’s car and drove it back to the edge of the pasture, and left in the pickup truck.”
Barbara then told the investigators what had happened to some of the missing items they had been searching for.
“The reason I took her purse was because I had touched it with my bare hands. The cell phone was thrown out onto the side of the road, and the purse was thrown into a Dumpster at a gas station in Rome. Then when we got home, we threw our clothes in the Dumpster at the apartment in Conyers.”
On a surprising closing note, Barbara told the officers that the police still did not have the person who killed Darlene in custody. Vernon Roberts, she said, was involved with the murder and had called her five times on her cell phone on the day Darlene was killed. She also told them that while at Vernon’s house the previous October, when they were having their alleged liaison while Darlene was out of town, Vernon had told her that he couldn’t afford another divorce.
Barbara had one more piece of information for the record; she claimed that while she was being held in the Cherokee County Jail, a deputy in uniform had come into her cell and beat her on the back of the legs, leaving bruises. The officers photographed the bruises, but Barbara apparently did not have a name for her alleged assailant. She was returned to her cell, and the investigators wondered how long it would be before she summoned them for their next conversation.
26
Despite her inability to wait until an attorney was present to speak with the investigators, Barbara had managed to secure the services of attorney Steve Lanier of Rome, Georgia. Lanier, in turn, was working with a local attorney in Centre, Rodney L. Stallings, who was also representing Barbara as her local legal advisor. Lanier was a veteran attorney with an established practice, and Stallings was a younger, up-and-coming lawyer whose office was a very short distance from both the Cherokee County Courthouse and the county jail, where Barbara was being held. Stallings, a former Auburn University football player, would be in a position to do the local legwork so essential to such cases, and had the ambition and energy to tackle the job. He was going to find, however, that defending Barbara was going to be tough going. He would eventually end up doing far more of the work on this particular case than he had expected to be doing when he first signed on.
One of the first actions Stallings took was to file a motion to reduce the $1 million bond that had been set for Barbara, as had also been set for Schiess. He claimed that the amount of bail set in the case was excessive under the facts and circumstances of the case, that Barbara could not make bail in that amount, and that the recommended range for a Class A felony under the bail schedule could be as low as $5,000.
District Judge Sheri W. Carver answered the motion with a court order denying the request for a reduced bond.
She also modified the original terms of Barbara’s bond by adding that she would surrender her passport and not leave either Alabama or Georgia. In the event that Barbara was able to post bond, she would not be allowed to enter into Cherokee County, except to assist in the defense of her case.
Judge Carver specified that Barbara would have no contact with the victim’s family or the victim’s former place of employment, and no unwanted contact with the codefendant in the case. She would immediately inform the court of any intent to change residency or address.
With the last item of the order, however, Judge Carver made a modification that allowed Barbara more of a chance to post bond and be released from the jail.
In addition to the above modifications, the order read, this Court makes notice of the general bonding practices in this area requiring Defendants to post approximately ten percent of any bond amount, consequently the Court further modifies the bond originally set in this matter so as to allow the Defendant to post a cash bond in the amount of twelve and one-half percent of the original bond amount or $125,000.00.
Said funds shall be paid into the Circuit Clerk’s office for Cherokee County, Alabama and upon payment and receipt of such funds by the Clerk’s office the Defendant shall be entitled to be released from jail subject to the conditions previously stated herein and previously ordered by this Court.
That sum of money was no problem for Schiess, who was a multimillionaire with easy access to that amount of funds. It was not long at all until both defendants posted the stated percentage of bond and were released from jail and on their way back to Georgia together.
27
In accordance with Judge Carver’s revised court order, attorney Steve Lanier obtained Barbara’s passport on May 1, 2006, and sent it to Rodney Stallings to turn over to the clerk’s office, as required. He also informed Stallings that both Schiess and Barbara wanted to attend the graduation on May 13 of Schiess’s son from the University of North Carolina at Asheville. Barbara requested to get the court’s permission to attend the graduation with Schiess, and Lanier asked Stallings if he had any advice or suggestions regarding the request. Stallings handled Barbara’s request, which was then prepared and given to the court.
Judge Carver approved the travel request after it was submitted, and both Barbara and Schiess were granted the court’s permission to attend the graduation ceremonies in North Carolina. Specific times were stated for their departure and their return, both of which were complied with.
On May 4, Barbara’s defense submitted a request for a preliminary hearing, petitioning the court to set down a date on the grounds that Barbara had been charged with a felony, but had not been indicted. Her lawyer stated that Barbara had a right to a preliminary hearing under provisions of the Code of Alabama. The request asked that the court would set down a date, time, and place for a preliminary hearing in Barbara’s case.
1. The defense had consented to the motion.
2. A continuance would aid the cause of justice by allowing Deputy District Attorney (DDA) Scott C. Lloyd to prepare for his extensive grand jury duties.
3. A continuance would not affect the interests of the defendant, as the state had agreed that the matter would not be presented to the May/June 2006 session of the grand jury, and the defendant was on bond with no serious restrictions on her liberty.
The continuance was granted, and the case was planned to be presented to the October 2006 grand jury session.
In the early summer, while Barbara and Schiess were out on bond prior to the grand jury session in October, Barbara decided she wanted to attend an out-of-state spiritual retreat. The retreat was, in fact, quite a long way out of state; it was held in Wolf Creek, Montana, and was a five-day residential retreat called “Through the Eye of the Horse: Explorations in Original Medicine.” It was held at Blacktail Ranch. Its purpose, according to its promotional materials, was to explore what indigenous tribes considered our own unique qualities and gifts that we bring to the world. Many other New Age phrases, like nature as a healing force and the source of your most authentic self, were used, along with the statement that participants would experience being witnessed by a herd of horses and a Circle of humans that are committed to seeing our strengths and bright potential. Retreat attendees would have the opportunity to witness in a new way the exterior and interior landscapes of all who come together at this time and in this place.
Blacktail Ranch was described as the home of a Sacred Cave that calls all who visit this land to come and spend ceremonial time visiting the cave, as others have done for thousands of years before us. The eight-thousand-plus-acre ranch, located between Great Falls and Helena, Montana, also was home to one fork of the Dearborn River, which the retreat literature said would be calling you back to your most instinctual self.
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