A story in this Morn's paper, a man killing his wife. So, if you were selected for the Grand Jury, would you indict?
Husband shot wife for love, family says
Slaying - Virginia Roberts, who had ALS, had reasons for not taking her own life under Oregon law Thursday, February 07, 2008BRAD SCHMIDT The Oregonian Staff
GRESHAM -- Two months before her death, Virginia Roberts surprised friends and family during what was thought to be merely a holiday party when she renewed wedding vows with her husband, John. Married 12 years, the couple exchanged watches rather than rings.
"These watches symbolize their belief," the minister told those at the Roberts' Gresham home, "that the time they share has no beginning and no end."
Looking back, John Roberts' friends and family say the ceremony Dec. 1 may have indicated that the couple felt Virginia was rapidly losing her battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Now those friends and family say love drove John to participate in Virginia's death Saturday. The single gunshot wound to her head was not a cold-blooded attack, they say, but a final act of compassion for a woman suffering from a debilitating disease.
They also say Virginia had her reasons for not using Oregon's Death With Dignity Act, the only law in the nation that allows terminally ill patients to end their lives. Virginia did not want to deteriorate until doctors determined she was within six months of death, as required by the physician-assisted suicide law, they said. Nor did she want to take her own life because of her Catholic beliefs.
"There is a story that makes this not just a murder," said Greg Roberts, John Roberts' brother and a former Seattle police detective. "It is my firm belief that this was a pact between the two of them, that she asked him to do this."
Police arrested John Lyle Roberts, 51, on an accusation of murder after receiving a 9-1-1 call at 9:44 a.m. Saturday. Inside the couple's gray, one-story home in the 4100 block of N.E. El Camino Drive, police found Virginia Quiroz Roberts, 51, dead.
Roberts' attorney, Angel Lopez, and Don Rees, a Multnomah County senior deputy district attorney prosecuting the case, declined to comment. Gresham police Capt. Tim Gerkman also declined to discuss specifics of the investigation, which will be reviewed by a grand jury Friday.
According to state Death With Dignity statistics, ALS is second to cancer as the most common illness listed by those who ended their lives between 1998 and 2006. Twenty-three of the 292 Oregonians who died through the program had ALS.
ALS, named for the New York Yankees All-Star who succumbed to it in 1941, eliminates the ability to control muscle movements, eventually leading to paralysis and death. Dr. Jau-Shin Lou, director of the ALS Center of Oregon at Oregon Health & Science University, estimates there are 40 to 60 new diagnoses statewide each year. The average survival time: two to five years.
John and Virginia Roberts' love began at a bar in California, family members say. A Cascade Locks native, he worked as a logistics manager for various companies, improving business models and then moving on. She moved to the U.S. without knowing English. "Vicki," as she was sometimes known, found work in bars and in retail. Both had children from previous relationships. They fell for each other and eloped.
"100 percent his match"
Sarah Roberts, John Roberts' oldest daughter from a previous marriage, said she believes her dad knew what Virginia wanted him to do, even if it meant ending her life, even if it meant he'd go to jail.
"Vicki was 100 percent his match," she said. "He would do anything for her."
Following that December ceremony, Virginia Roberts' condition worsened, family members say. She lost weight and started sorting her belongings. Greg Roberts said that one day his brother hinted that Virginia had asked for help in her death.
Virginia prided herself on her appearance, said Teresa Cavazos, the family friend who conducted the December ceremony. She kept a clean house, always looked immaculate and loved shopping. But the disease began turning one of Roberts' hands inward and she lost the use of two of her fingers, Cavazos said.
"She couldn't even comb her hair anymore," Cavazos said. "She was a very proud woman, and it was very, very difficult for her."
The night before her death, Cavazos said she spoke with Virginia on the phone for longer than normal. In retrospect, the conversation was haunting, Cavazos said.
Virginia likened her love with John to Romeo and Juliet. And she mentioned that being shot wouldn't be a bad way to die.
"You're here one second and in heaven the next," Cavazos recalled Roberts saying.
"I thought, what a weird thing to say."
Brad Schmidt, 503-294-5940;
bradschmidt@news.oregonian.com