Every Town - Clarence Roberts: The Bizarre Tale Of The Man Who Died Twice

Episode Date: October 4, 2024

Can a man die twice? No of course not, that goes against everything we understand in this world. And yet here we are with the story of Clarence Roberts a man who died in a fire in 1970 and then died in a fire in 1980. The issues in this case aren’t from the paranormal realm. They come from a man desperate to get his head above water…Someone willing to do anything to survive even if that means dying. 👀 Watch This Episode On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/scarymysteries 👁 Our Movie ‘AN ANGRY BOY’ is Available NOW On Demand: ALL Links and more info https://www.anangryboy.com 🎧 Our Other Podcast Scary Mysteries: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZooEZMoZ421WdsOVJhVkT 💀 Exclusive Videos, Podcasts & Perks: https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries  👁 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew.fitzg 👁 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewfitzgerald 👁 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarymysteriesofficial 🗣 Business Inquiries, questions and comments hit us up at [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The issues in this case aren't from the paranormal realm. They come from a man desperate to get his head above water, someone willing to do anything to survive even if it means dying. It's confusing. I know. Once you hear all the details in this story, you'll get a better understanding of what potentially might have happened. Because to this day, because it's such a strange and unique case, the true answers have never actually been found. Hey guys, it's Andrew, and thanks for tuning into this episode of Everytown. But today, we bring you a case unlike any other you've heard about. Let's head on over to good old Indiana, learn about Clarence Roberts. the man who died twice. Clarence was born all the way back on March 18th, 1918 in Brown County, Indiana.

He was the fifth of seven children, and for the most part, his life was quite ordinary, following a predictable path. His father Joseph was a simple farmer, his mother Francis, a homemaker. Honorably, Clarence served in the U.S. Army during World War II and later in 1950. But just 32 years old, he even became the sheriff of Brown County. So at this point in his life, Clarence seemed to have everything a man needed to be happy. Despite his first marriage failing, in 1941, the young Clarence had remarried, and this time to the young Geneva Roberts, who that same year gave birth to their first child Bernard.

At that time, the Roberts clan appeared to be the typical American family, a picture that over the years only solidified, at least on the outside. They grew to having four children in total who would all become upstanding citizens. However, a tragedy was coming. By 1970, Clarence was no longer just another neighbor or the Old Town Sheriff. At 52, not only did he serve on the board of directors of the Nashville State Bank, but he also ran a very successful hardware store business with his brother Carson. The result of 22 long years of hard work and sacrifice,

Well, it finally paid off, and handsomely at that. So much so that Clarence began to get used to an increasingly expensive, an ostentatious lifestyle, perhaps too accustomed. Roberts had a large house in Nashville and three cars, which were to say the least expensive. But as often is the case, he might have been punching a little too high above his weight class in terms of what he could actually afford.

The reality was that he was in debt, pretty big time, and as years went by, his finances began to deteriorate, and so did his reputation. Almost obsessed with maintaining his expensive lifestyle, Clarence racked up a long list of debts that eventually cornered him, leaving him no choice but to sell his hardware store. This situation deeply affected his mood and personality. Alberta Roberts, Clarence's sister-in-law, once remarked that his change was like turning on one light and turning off another. The man was far from the successful and humble man he had once been,

and the worst part was that this was just the tip of the iceberg. As the debt didn't just disappear, which meant Clarence's attitude only got worse. And desperate, he then put all the money from the sale of his business into two new ventures, an apartment building and a grain elevator group. And Clarence hoped these investments, would turn his situation around, but both ventures failed spectacularly, deepening the hole he had

already fallen into. And backed into a corner, Clarence began submitting fake invoices to insurance companies and other entities. In October of 1970, Sheriff Warren Roberts, none other than one of his own brothers, had to repossess two of his cars. And this last incident was the final straw for the Roberts family, who have gone from being the embodiment of the American dream to near total ruin. So much so that Bob White, one of Clarence's nephews, claimed that his uncle was deeply depressed, and probably begun to contemplate leaving this earth. And so, we come to the day of the tragedy, the first death. On Wednesday, November 18th of 1970, just a few weeks after those cars got repoed,

At 6.27 p.m., the Nashville Fire Department rushed the Roberts' address. That afternoon, for reasons that are still unclear, the barn on the property, fully engulfed in flames, and this was no ordinary fire. The flames were so intense that the firefighters could do nothing but watch helplessly as the fire consumed the structure fast, leaving only the charred skeleton of the building and a mass of black, pasty ash. Or, so it seemed at first glance, as the firefighters soon made a horrifying discovery. Lying in those ashes and rubble was the body of a man,

burned beyond recognition. Not only was it impossible to recognize who the person was, but what was left barely suggested that it was even a human. This fire had been so intense that only two items survived. A ring found among the ashes and a half-melted shotgun found on top of the body. Jack Bond, the county corner, was assigned. to examine the victim, though most citizens already suspected that Clarence had done this to himself in a moment of desperation. It seemed logical, didn't it? It was Clarence's house, and the man had gone

from wealth to ruin. It didn't take long to find out that the ring found that the crime scene belonged to Clarence as well, and the family also owned a shotgun, so the case closed that. However, the evidence didn't exactly support this. As Jack did, he said, he was a gun. As Jack did, he was, he was in the As Jack dug into the charred body, he found not a single trace of a gunshot wound anywhere. None in the remaining flesh or any of the bones. Then the examination revealed two even stranger things. At first was that the true cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning. So it appeared this individual had died from smoke inhalation.

But that wasn't the case, because the second thing is that this individual, whoever he was, had died before the fire ever started. And this was the beginning of a long list of questions that gradually indicated that something stranger had occurred here than it appeared. The ring found at the scene seemed to be clear evidence that the body belonged to Clarence. After all, the man was a 33rd-degree mason,

something not a lot of people are. And the ring found at the scene was indeed a 33rd-degree ring. Over this evidence quickly turned against Clarence. The fire had been so intense that he had been so intense that even the gun found at the scene had partially melted. The ring found amidst the debris, however, was almost intact, as if someone implanted it there after the fact. So the first suspicions arose that maybe, just maybe,

Clarence was not as dead as he seemed. A great way to get out of being responsible for all the dead he had would be to die, or at least appear dead, so it wasn't out of the realm of possibility. The police investigation then revealed that a few months earlier, Clarence had purchased several life insurance policies totaling nearly $1 million. These policies named his wife Geneva as the primary beneficiary. They then discovered that prior to the tragedy, Clarence had mentioned to his closest friends

that he had approximately $100,000 deposited in a Swiss bank account, even showing them the account card he got with it. It didn't take long for suspicions to become reality. During the investigation, forensic experts conducted a blood test. test on the charred body. This test was crucial in determining the true identity and was found that the fire victim's blood type was A B. And Clarence's blood type, according to the U.S. military records, was B. In time, an idea began to take hold in Nashville. On November 17th, 1970, just two days before the fire, some people had seen Clarence at a bar in Morgantown,

neighboring community also in the county, making friends with an unhoused. This person was described by witnesses as a man who stood between 5'7 and 5 foot 9 and was about the same age as Clarence. No one knew his name or where he came from. Over witnesses stated that Clarence had offered this man a job to help with some odd jobs around the house. The man agreed to go with Clarence, but just as they were leaving, he suddenly collapsed to the ground. Clarence said he would take the vagrant to the hospital and make sure he got the proper care he needed. After hearing about this, Don Custer, one of the detectives assigned to the case, and the same one who had found Clarence's ring at the crime scene, set out to visit all the hospitals

within a 300-mile radius. None of them had any records that this homeless man had ever been admitted, with this split Nashville into two different theories. One part of the community believed that Clarence had died that day, theory that Clarence's nephew Bob White strongly believed. Many others, however, thought that Clarence was alive as ever, and that the charred body found in the barn was that of the vagrant Clarence had killed to claim the lucrative insurance policy. If Clarence had intended to fake his death in order to collect the insurance money, his plan failed spectacularly. Because the courts did not overlook the strange circumstances of the fire, and Geneva's

claims for the insurance payout were denied. It was the story of the hobo, the strange range ring that seemed to have been planted, and the inconsistencies between the blood types of the body found at the scene in Clarence's own, where the insurance companies, true to their nature, had plenty of reasons to deny coverage on the policy Roberts had taken out in his wife's name. Earl Bond, the former coroner of Brown County, refused to sign off on Roberts' debt certificate because of all this, setting off a legal battle that further ruined the finances of the Robert's family, or at least Geneva, who was the one legally alive. And it dragged on because certain prominent people, like Dr. John Pless, a well-respected

pathologist, testified that upon his examination, he determined that the body did in fact belong to Clarence. Geneva's situation deteriorated to the point where she soon found herself in a vortex very similar to the one that had ensnared her husband shortly before his disappearance and or death. This whole incident became the subject of gossip and rumor in town. Geneva began to distance herself from her friends and neighbors, and her personal finances were suffering to the point that she had to begin working in the kitchen of a local Howard Johnson's to make ends meet.

But some of the quote-unquote rumors might have been true to a certain degree. These people thought that working at the Howard Johnson's kitchen might just be a way to make everyone believe she was in a worse spot than she actually was. local merchants began commenting that they had sold large quantities of beer to Geneva, which was unusual since it was known that she was a diabetic who rarely drank. Some neighbors began to claim that Geneva wasn't really alone, and they had seen someone on the Roberts property more than once. Adding to these claims was Detective Dave Anderson,

who stated that he had received information from neighbors about a man who had been seen behind the Roberts' house. This person was acting suspiciously, loitering around the perimeter of the house, trying to stay out of sight from others. A man who, looked as if he was locked inside all day and needed to get out for a little vitamin D. Accompanied by several officers, Detective Anderson then set up surveillance around the house for over three days and night. During this time, the officers photographed every single person who entered and exited the house and its surroundings, but they never found any evidence of this man. whoever he was. Nevertheless, whether without evidence some people were convinced that this mysterious

man was Clarence, who, having run out of places to go, decided to return and stay with his wife, siphoning cash from that Swiss bank account. Helen Ayers, a local reporter, who had become quite friendly with Geneva, didn't hesitate to suggest that the woman was hiding something, or perhaps someone. After all, Helen had visited the house more than four times, and each time Geneva always greeted her on the back porch and never allowed her inside. This was odd since the norm down in Nashville was always to invite visitors in. Suspecting that Clarence was still alive, the reporter decided to interview Alberta, Geneva's sister, who lived in a neighboring apartment.

This interview, however, only left more doubts on the table. The interviewee claimed to have heard her sister talking to a man on more than one occasion. However, Alberta stated that the voice she heard did not belong. to Clarence, but to another man. Geneva Roberts' solitary life continued on for nearly 10 years, until the townsfolk all but had forgotten the crazy story of her husband. People have busy lives to tend to.

People move out and others move in. And so during these years, Clarence's death, real or not, was more relegated to the realm of urban legend. From time to time, those who were there and had remembered would reignite some interest, if only only for a moment, that Roberts had been seen alive beyond the borders of the U.S. in places such as Mexico or West Germany. One of these witnesses was Robert Hillenberg, a former Nashville resident

who claimed to have seen him and lost Palmas, Mexico in 1975. But whether the sightings are real or not, well, here's where things get really interesting. On November 29th of 1980, 10 years and 11 days after the first fire, history really repeated itself. A fierce and insatiable fire ravaged the Roberts residence, and this time it wasn't confined to the barn. The entire house was consumed by the flames. Detective Anderson, you can bet, was there as fast as he could. Once it was safe enough to enter, inside the charred body of Geneva was found. And sifting through the ashes further, a couple hours later, a second body was discovered. that of a man apparently dying for the second time, and this was the body of Clarence Roberts.

Dr. Pless, the same medical examiner who 10 years earlier had determined that Clarence Roberts had died in the barn fire, had to make the same determination under the same circumstances about the same person. The evidence that this body belonged to Roberts was proven, as dental records matched, and a series of chest x-rays also matched ones from Clarence that were taken, when he was alive, showing the same unique structure. But still, that wasn't enough to convince everyone. It is true that all believed Clarence had died in a blaze, but many of his relatives were convinced that the man had passed in the first fire,

not the second. On November 18, 2024, it will be 54 years since the first fire that apparently killed Clarence Roberts. 11 days later, it will be 44 years since the man's second death. Yet, speculation can do that. continues as to what really happened. Forensics have determined that the second fire was not an accident, but was undoubtedly arson using turpentine as an accelerant. Evidence indicates that it started in Geneva's room, that she was either murdered or had passed out from alcohol consumption, with her BAC being 0.3, which is pretty high. The fire then spread from there, it's believed

that Clarence then died likely as a combination of alcohol consumption and smoke inhalation. His VAC was point two, and so he likely was stumbling and trying to perhaps get out of the house, but the fire got him first. But beyond that speculation, well, the mystery still has not been proven 100%. Some are convinced that the first body belonged to Roberts, and that the body and the second fire belonged to the mysterious man the neighbors spoke of. Others claim that the first victim was the missing homeless man, and that Clarence in Geneva were murdered the day they died. And that Clarence and Geneva were murder the day they died, perhaps by the mysterious companion many neighbors claim to have seen, or perhaps by an outside of Salem. Other theories suggest that the killer was Clarence himself,

who for some reason returned to silence his wife and end it once and for all. There are even those who believe that the second fire was done as a sort of pact between the couple, the Clarence and his wife, who were involved in this dark plot from the beginning, decided they had had enough hiding and enough grief. That first body, one of the homeless men, has never been identified despite efforts to do so. So it's likely that none of us will ever know the true story with all its details included.

And we can only speculate, but know that one thing is for sure, that the one simple man in Clarence Roberts at some point took a dark path that he was never able to return from. So that's it for this. this week's episode of Everytown. Hope you all enjoyed it.

And if you guys haven't, checked it out yet. I love if you watch the movie I wrote and directed called An Angry Boy. It's a dark thriller about a kid who goes on the revenge path, so it's right up your alley. It's available on Amazon, Apple, YouTube, and Google Play. Thanks for tuning in today. Remember to come back next week for another episode

for it's scary, strange, and mysterious stories. Because you never know. Maybe your town will be next.