Former Ivy League professor freed after 10 years in prison

it's the day before Christmas break for most people in the affluent area of Upper Merion Township Pennsylvania when Rafael rob a professor at the University of Pennsylvania returns from morning errands to discover his wife Ellen in a pool of blood he calls police there's no audio of the call but in a transcript released by the Upper Merion Police Department Rafael states hello yeah I just came home and found my wife murdered on the kitchen floor the officer responding she's killed yes how can you tell I know her head is cracked is there anyone in the house there was a broken window in the back okay stay out front there are police and an ambulance coming in minutes police arrived in cordon off the area inside it appears that housewife and mother Ellen Rob was wrapping up last-minute holiday gifts in the kitchen she had been seated at a kitchen table oddly facing the wall Ellen never sees it coming they shotgun blast to the face experienced detectives would initially see a wound or a series of wounds like that and think shotgun blast next CSI moves in and documents the bloodbath every grisly angle captured the photos that we saw in this case pale in the comparison that anything we've ever seen we have seen horrendous accidents people being hit by train people being eaten alive by animals and these photos were the worst we've ever seen there was a lot of blood around where her body was found mostly at the head area police speak with Ellen's husband Rafael they asked him where he was during the morning hours his wife was viciously murdered Rafael explains he took his 12 year-old daughter Olivia to school stopped at a local grocery store then dropped off his grades at the University of Pennsylvania before returning home to find his wife he was away during the time when Ellen probably was killed investigators pull surveillance footage of his various stops Raphael's alibi appears to check out detectives continue to search the home looking for clues that's when they spot shards of glass by a back door somebody had broken glass and it was one of those doors where with a broken pane of glass burglar could reach in and unlock a door right away investigators theorize it must have been a burglary that occurred there and the motive for murder the victims going to identify the the perpetrator it seems like an open-and-shut case then as police continue to collect evidence and piece together what happened Ellen's brother Gary arrives he's there to pick up his sister for the holidays as I drove up to the house I saw the house quarantine with the police tape jumped out of my car and quickly learned that she had been killed it's devastating news for Gary Nolan is more than his sister she's like a second mother to him when she was in college she worked three jobs and sent her earnings home to my mother so that she could support my brother and myself while she raised us as a single parent and now sadly she's gone I saw them put her lifeless body in the ambulance the timing couldn't be more tragic she was she was going to come up to Boston to celebrate her 50th birthday to celebrate Christmas with her daughter and and our family then in front of a swarm of black-and-whites a yellow school bus pulls up it's Rafael and Ellen's 12 year old daughter Olivia she comes home to see her house surrounded with police tape flashing lights everywhere policemen ambulance she gets out walks up to her house and a 12 year old girl says I live here Gary sends his knees to a neighbor's house while he tries to comprehend the tragedy unfolding in front of his eyes immediately thoughts run through your mind as to how could this possibly happen you're in a most peaceful beautiful suburban neighborhood outside of Philadelphia murders and killings of this nature just don't occur and that section of suburban Philadelphia authorities continue to investigate the case as a burglary gone horribly wrong and now they can't help but wonder if there's a murderer on the loose looking to rob housewives alone in their homes the only problem is that Ellen wasn't alone there was a little dog there and animals invariably walk in the blood and trample blood prints all over the place but the dog was locked in a bedroom who does that no burglar would do that and there's something else that's troublesome for detectives the broken windowpane on the door where the burglar allegedly gained entry none of the glass is crushed beneath where the killer would have walked and it's not just contradictory evidence on the floor it's on the ceiling too the way the blood cast-off had been found on various patterns especially on the ceiling detectives believe the blood spatter patterns don't match up with a shotgun blast to the face the blood splatter that was particularly critical and it's not long before their suspicions are confirmed when Ellen's x-rays come back from the morgue and the results x-rays had shown that it was not a gunshot wound that had been a blunt-force trauma injury it immediately changes the focus of the type of person that you are looking for 49 year old wife and mother Ellen Rob is beaten to death inside her upscale Pennsylvania home Ellen Robb's face was obliterated and how could this possibly happen now that police have ruled out a burglary gone wrong they start to believe the murder is an inside job I cannot tell you how many murders I did in my career where the person the last person to see somebody live and the first person to see him dead is the killer and in this case that person is Ellen's husband Raphael robbed coincidence it was apparent pretty quickly that he did have a motive when police interview Ellen's brother they find out Ellen didn't die on just any day it was the day the day that Ellen was struck down and killed brutally the most horrific bludgeoning in the history of Montgomery County Pennsylvania over a half a century was the day she was to have her own emancipation that's right Ellen was leaving Rafael and Gary was on his way to take his sister and her daughter Olivia to Boston he clearly understood that she was leaving and it was at that point of her freedom that he struck her down and killed her according to Ellen's brother she planned to divorce Rafael after years of verbal mental and more recently physical abuse began but if Rafael has the motive to kill Ellen what about his seemingly solid alibi ends up just like his wife's murder the alibi is overkill he would be in places where there where he knows that there would be surveillance video detectives claimed at this local Wawa convenience store he stood in front of a surveillance camera for several minutes and for seemingly no reason while he drank an entire soda so amateurish as to be laughable it was creating a series of places that he had gone that would be plausibly linked together but there's just one problem that was not in conformity with what we thought the timeline was now making it possible that Rafael is at home during the time his wife is ruthlessly slaughter and according to investigators evidence found at the house points to Raphael as the true killer first up the dog he intentionally locked the dog away before he went to do the killing and no burglar would do that second the door were the supposed burglar made entry it actually looked to me like it had been broken from the inside out and third the coroner's finding that Ellen is killed by blunt force trauma when a killer uses a blunt force object to commit a killing and strikes repeatedly it wants blood begins to flow from the victim it gets on the weapon and every time the killer raises and lowers it that blood splatters someplace according to authorities a beating like this one is up close and very personal somebody who has a reason to want this person to be dead while investigators zero in on Raphael they lack one crucial piece of the puzzle the murder weapon we had actually been told by the pathologist to look for a long cylindrical object a murder weapon is never recovered still prosecutors move ahead with their case i arrested him and charged him with first-degree murder but there's just one problem and it's about to turn this case on its head district attorney Bruce castor doesn't believe Raphael is a cold-blooded killer I didn't think that that's what fit the evidence I had a written report from two psychiatrists telling me that this was a rage killing a rage killing where the killer strikes more blows with more force far more than is necessary to bring a bring about death that tells us the type of mindset of the person that we're looking for meaning Raphael killed his wife but in a sudden loss of control versus a premeditated action da caster claims it's a crime of passion brought on by a triggering event in this case he believes is a conversation about Ellen's plans to leave Rafael he has a complete freak out grabs the nearest thing that's capable of producing death and then goes to town on her head but unless he admits he did it then I don't have any choice but to put on the evidence that I do that for the next 11 months Raphael sits in jail on murder 1 charges facing life in prison and possibly the death penalty he swears he's innocent now I have a problem because I can't actually go and try to convince a jury that it's a first-degree case one I actually think it's a voluntary manslaughter case but then just before Raphael's case is set to go to trial this bombshell he cops to the brutal slaying of his wife unbelievable Raphael admits to prosecutors that he beat his wife's face in with a nearby chinna bar that he staged the break-in and disposed of the weapon and bloody clothes in a dumpster in Chinatown in his words he just lost it when he learned Ellen planned to take their daughter to Massachusetts facts that that developed fit the forensics but Raphael's confession is a game-changer for the state's case against him it no longer is a provable first-degree murder case in my judgment his rememberyour it's proof beyond a reasonable doubt and prosecutors believe a crime of passion or a rage killing creates enough doubt to derail a first-degree murder conviction which requires proof of premeditation the district attorney he stated there was a lot of circumstantial evidence no murder weapon was found and that he felt that it would give the family peace to accept a plea deal as part of a negotiated plea deal Raphael pleads guilty to a voluntary manslaughter charge which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years but in a shocking decision by the court the judge sentences Raphael Rob to a lesser sentence of just 10 years and get this Raphael has a chance of parole after only five years how could this possibly happen Ellen's family is horrified by the verdict we had no understanding of the legal system as it related to manslaughter versus murder that the sentence guidelines could be as low as two to five years for manslaughter I argued that the facts and circumstances warranted the maximum sentence of 20 years the judge didn't agree and imposed the ten-year term I didn't expect him to do that but it did happen and now Ellen's family has to live with the verdict and live without their loved one our family without Ellen is it's not complete we're not home and we never will be then five years pass and just as Ellen's family feared he was paroled you heard right Rafael rob is a free man after just five years behind bars it's remarkable to think that after serving only five of a five to ten year sentence he was actually paroled by the pennsylvania parole board it's very very troubling but Ellen's brother is determined that Rafael serves the full ten years we decided to fight it because it was an outrage not only to our family but to all victims of domestic violence and abuse and in an unprecedented and historic move the parole board makes an announcement and my message to mr. rob is that this is the captain speaking and your flight to freedom has been cancelled and the first time in the history of Pennsylvania parole was rescinded for a violent offender and rightfully so that's correct Rafael rob is suddenly heading back to prison to finish out his full 10 year sentence but Ellen's family is just getting started after admitting to killing his wife in a fit of passion Raphael rob is charged with voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years for the brutal killing of his wife Ellen after serving the full 10 Rob was released from prison just this past January Ellen's family says hold on he can't simply go back into society unfettered while this the memory of my sister fades away Ellen is serving a lifetime sentence in the grave that we all share and he is out free it's very very troubling outraged by the light sentence Ellen's family wants justice and moves ahead with their wrongful death lawsuit filed during Raphael's attempt at a five-year parole in looking back at the plea deal today and the fact that Rob only served a five to ten year since it weighs heavily on the family Ellen's family hires attorneys Andrew Duffy and Robert Mangal Uzi to represent their civil case the family talked to us and they asked us to prove what they believed could be proved and that this was a premeditated murder and after reviewing the evidence they think they have a strong case anybody who did this to any human being let alone his wonderful wife and mother of his only child should spend every second of their life in jail for the rest of their life the plaintiffs attorneys break down the evidence that they presented to a civil jury they start at the beginning Raphael's phone call to police Rafael Robb did not call 911 that's right he called the direct police line and why is that significant he wanted to set up his alibi he didn't want to be recorded he would have known that 9-1-1 would record his call another thing they say points to premeditation the complete lack of blood evidence found on Rafael attorneys Duffy and Mangal Uzi argue how in the world would that be possible in the middle of such a bloodbath he claimed that somehow after the murder in this slaughterhouse that he took off his shirt his pants his socks and his shoes somehow hopped across the blood spattered floor to the hallway went upstairs found baby wipes cleaned himself up changed into clothes without a drop of blood it was incredible implausible and an absolute lie they had their own theory to explain the lack of blood on Rafael and it's explosive new evidence he had a Tyvek suit police found an additional Tyvek suit a hazmat suit in his BMW meet that two hazmat style suits according to the plaintiffs attorneys one suit used in the murder and the other a backup suit he forgot to discard with the other evidence if Rafael Robb was a chemist if he worked at an industrial plant he would have a potential justification for having a Tyvek suit in his BMW Rafael Robb is a professor of economics at the University of Pennsylvania there was no rhyme or reason why he would have a Tyvek suit in the back of his BMW attorneys Duffy and Mangal Uzi claim it's the most reasonable explanation for why there wasn't any blood on Raphael we proved that the blood trail stopped abruptly in the garage and that only means that a tae Baek su was on was taken off was discarded so the only thing left after the type of suit was taken off was a blood free murder then there's the issue of the murder weapon which was never recovered Rafael Rob claims that he began to argue with Alan he grabbed a chin-up bar and that he beat her to death with it those wounds that were found on Ellen Gregory Rob were sharp lacerating wounds they are consistent with a sharp object such as a crowbar and not a round chin apart then they enter into evidence pictures of the Rob's garage and the tools wait a picture of all the tools lined up and a crowbar happened to be missing the physical facts pointed that this was not a cry chin-up bar this was absolutely a jagged-edged instrument such as a crowbar which the plaintiffs attorneys argue means he had to go find the weapon it wasn't just nearby and grabbed in a fit of rage it shows pre thought and planning on Rafael's part also they claimed a crowbar type weapon better explains the horrific damage done to Ellen's head I will never be able to get those photos out of my mind Ellen was unidentifiable he had literally beaten her face in to remove her identity the civil trial lawyers then pointed something obvious Rafael Rob's job at the University of Pennsylvania he's an economics professor who specializes in get this game theory it's the science of logical decision-making involving strategic thinking in planning people who are proficient and game theory plan things out they have backup plans in plain terms this was a premeditated murder he had it all planned out but he didn't planned for his story of raveling so quickly then they introduced a letter written by Rafael to his daughter Olivia two years after the murder this is the letter that in hindsight was the single most important piece of evidence at the civil trial in the letter Raphael is asking for photos of his daughter and the two of them together he's hoping to show that he's a good father in order to receive a lighter punishment during the sentencing phase in exchange he promises to send her Christmas gifts and money he goes on I'd hate to delay sending you the gift but I won't do so unless I get these items won't the love of money propel you into action love and kisses dad XO XO X and with all this damning evidence the civil trial kicks off and attorney manga Lucy comes out swinging in his opening remark in civil court transcripts he states you are a killer and a liar mr. Rob aren't you Rafael responds killer yes liar - yes also this stunning courtroom exchange appears Rafael is blaming his wife for her own murder it goes like this Rafael says my wife pushed me Mangal Uzi so you're claiming to this jury that Ilyn provoked you into murdering her is that right Rafael responds she pushed me I got angry I lost my faculties that's what happened then the biggest moment arrives and the plaintiffs attorneys call their star witness the doors open up she walks up to the stand and the jury doesn't see a 12 year old girl anymore now they see a 20 year old young lady it's Olivia this is the first time she's seen her father Rafael since that fateful day eight years before it was the most emotional dramatic event that may have been witnessed in any courtroom anywhere Olivia's testimony is documented in court transcripts a portion of her testimony it reads this way attorney Duffy says Olivia before your father took your mother from you did you fear your father Olivia responds yes attorney Duffy why Olivia my father could just lose his temper really rapidly and quickly Olivia testified that and ended her testimony with the thing that disappoints her most when she meets new people is that those new people don't get to meet her mother the civil trial ends and the attorneys for Ellen's estate rest we proved that Rafael Robb intentionally and with premeditation murdered his wife this was no crime of passion and the jury agrees awarding the largest civil suit payout in Pennsylvania history 124 million dollars despite all the evidence in the civil trial Rafael Robb is out of prison yes living as a free man he walked out from behind bars in January of 2017 after serving his full 10 year sentence for manslaughter and while Rob could never be tried a second time for murder Ellen's family has decided to turn their tragedy into triumph they create the foundation every great reason an acronym for Ellen's initial we have passionately worked for nearly a decade to achieve many goals on behalf of victims of domestic violence and abuse most notably creating Ellen's law which allows victims to meet with the parole board prior to any prisoners release and helping others is bringing some solace to Ellen's family but they're still learning to live with the laws when she walked in she would light up a room and she would do so in a way that was not centered on herself but uh excuse me but on all of those around her just an amazing individual tragically taken by the hands of a monster he slaughtered his wife as something out of a horror movie and in a horror movie there was always a monster and the monster here was Rafael robbed

Channel: True Crime Daily

Views: 2,173,729

Rating: 4.6789217 out of 5

Keywords: Rafael Robb, Ellen Robb, True Crime Daily, Crime Watch Daily

Id: 1Z6vMMv5Zko

Length: 23min 52sec (1432 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 13 2019