MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories - The Imposter (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)

Episode Date: October 31, 2022

In the early morning hours of Saturday October 30th 2004, a man walked out of his suburban Virginia home and started walking down his driveway to get the newspaper. As he walked, he enjoyed the cool crisp air against his skin. This was one of the man's favorite times of the day, when just for a few minutes, it felt like he was the only person in the world who was outside; It was like everyone else was still sleeping. But that morning, he was wrong. He wasn't alone. Someone was hiding nearby, watching him, and waiting for the perfect moment to pounce.For 100s more stories like this one, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @MrBallenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the early morning hours of Saturday, October 30th, 2004, a man walked out of his suburban Virginia home and started walking down his driveway to get the newspaper. This was one of the man's favorite times of the day when just for a few minutes, it felt like he was the only person in the world who was outside. It was like everybody else was still sleeping.

However, that morning, he was wrong. He was not alone. Someone was hiding nearby and they were watching him and waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious Delivered in Story format, then you've come to the right podcast because that's all we do, and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday. So, if that's of interest to you, when the five-star review button comes into your store at the mall, only pretend to validate their parking ticket when

they hand it to you. Also, please subscribe to the Mr. Ballin podcast wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss any of our weekly uploads. Okay, let's get into today's story. Hello, I'm Emily and I'm one of the hosts of Terribly Famous, the show that takes you inside the lives of our biggest celebrities. And they don't get much bigger than the man who made badminton sexy. Okay, maybe that's a stretch, but if I say pop star and shuttlecocks, you know who I'm talking about. No? Short shorts? Free cocktails? Careless whispers? Okay, last one. It's not Andrew Ridgely. Yep, that's right.

It's Stone Cold icon George Michael. From teen pop sensation to one of the biggest solo artists on the planet, join us for our new series, George Michael's Fight for Freedom. From the outside, it looks like he has it all. But behind the trademark dark sunglasses is a man in turmoil. George is trapped in a lie of his own making, with a secret he feels would ruin him if the truth ever came out. Follow Terribly Famous wherever you listen to your podcasts, or listen early and ad-free on Wanderie Plus on Apple Podcasts or the Wanderie app.

I'm Peter Frank-O'Pern. And I'm Afua Hirsch. And we're here to tell you about our new season of Legacy, covering the iconic, troubled musical genius that was Nina Simone. Full disclosure, this is a big one for me. Nina Simone, one of my favourite artists of all time, somebody who's had a huge impact on me, who I think objectively stands apart for the level

of her talent, the audacity of her message. If I was a first year at university, the first time I sat down and really listened to her and engaged with her message, it totally floored me. And the truth and pain and messiness of her struggle, that's all captured in unforgettable music that has stood the test of time. Think that's fair, Peter? I mean, the way in which her music comes across is so powerful, no matter what song it is. So join us on Legacy for Nina Simone. 52-year-old Fred Jablin watched with pride as his three children filed ahead of him into Temple Beth Ahaba's Friday evening service. The night, October 29, 2004, was cloudy and cool, and in Richmond, the capital city of Virginia, the maples and oak trees were still decked out with red and gold fall foliage. Even in the twilight darkness, the autumn colors glowed around the synagogue,

the oldest Jewish house of worship in the city of almost 200,000 residents. Just the sight of Beth Ahava and the graceful columns that fronted the stone and brick building always made Fred feel better, a little less anxious and a little less worried. And every time he walked past the familiar plaque outside the temple and read the words, quote, what doth the Lord require of thee? Justice, mercy, humility. Fred reminded himself that those three qualities had already helped him get through the worst years of his life. And he believed now that those same three qualities, justice, mercy, humility, would help guide him and his son and two daughters into a happier future. As the javelins took their usual seats and exchanged quiet greetings with friends

and acquaintances, Fred did what he always did. He made a point of reflecting on just how important religion, community, friendship, and the support of his colleagues at work were to his life and his family. And the power of gratitude was just one of the very hard lessons Fred had learned during the last five years, when the cracks in his marriage of almost two decades had become too deep to patch up. As a well-known and highly regarded college professor, who had been one of the early pioneers in the field of organizational communication, Fred had truly believed five years ago, back in 1999, that he and his ex-wife, Piper Roundtree, could work together to resolve their

differences. But that was before he had found out about his wife's affair with a local doctor. And while that affair was the tipping point for Fred's decision to file for divorce the next year, in March of 2001, that affair had really just been the final betrayal in a series of events that still had the power to shock him, even now, two years after he and Piper had officially ended their marriage. As Fred settled into his seat and prepared for the Shabbat, the service that would celebrate God's creation of the world and mark the beginning of a 24-hour period of rest and reflection, he thought how close he had come to losing his job and to losing the trust and respect of his neighbors and co-workers. In the terrible lead-up to the divorce,

Piper's behavior had become more and more erratic. The medications she was taking for depression and attention deficit disorder did not seem to be enough to stabilize her moods or decrease her sense of anxiety or discontent. But it wasn't until Piper began calling police and reporting that Fred was physically abusing her and accusing him of trying to drug her, that Fred had finally understood just how broken their relationship really was. By then, they had already tried marriage counseling, and Piper had moved out of their family house several times to stay with her best friend in Richmond.

But even then, somehow Piper and Fred had still managed to limp along. Despite the difficulty Piper and Fred had still managed to limp along, despite the difficulty Piper had in holding a job, despite the fact that she had a law degree, and her increasing unreliability in caring for the kids, even after she chose to stay at home rather than work outside of the house. But then came the afternoon four years ago when police arrived at the University of Richmond where Fred had a tenured teaching position. Earlier that day, Piper had gone to the Henrico County Magistrate's Office and sworn out

an arrest warrant and restraining order against her husband. Of course, it hadn't always been that way. Back when Fred, an up-and-coming professor, and Piper, a student in her final year, met back in 1981 at the University of Texas in Austin, they seemed to have exactly nothing in common. And when Fred, who was eight years older than Piper, first met Piper through another professor, Fred did not even recognize her as one of the many students who had attended one of Fred's classes the year before. While 21-year-old Piper was one of five children from an old Texas family that had lived in Harlingen, a small town just 30 miles north of the Mexico border, 29-year-old Fred

was one of two brothers who were born and raised in a mostly Jewish working-class neighborhood just 20 miles east of New York City. While Piper was hands- down beautiful, with her dark hair and dark eyes and petite but athletic build, Fred was thin and balding and completely average looking, except for the intelligent eyes and the playful grin that clued people in to his wry and entertaining sense of humor. And their outlook on the world turned out to be just as different as their appearances. Fred was a great believer in rational thinking, and where he viewed the world in terms of black and white and took great comfort in set routines, Piper was a free spirit who loved to paint and who would, over time, fill the couple's house

with adopted and rescued animals, from birds to a pet ferret. But two years after their first meeting, Fred and Piper were married, and over the next six years, Piper would eventually get her law degree, cycle in and out of two jobs, and then give birth to their oldest child, their daughter Jocelyn. Their son Paxton would arrive three years later, and their youngest, Callie, would arrive three years after that. And for a long time, it seemed like Fred and Piper's differences actually brought out the best in each of them. Fred became less rigid in his thinking, and Piper seemed to blossom in the light of Fred's affection and devotion to her and the children.

But over time, the charm of their opposite personalities seemed to wear very thin. Fred was never a big fan of Piper's family and took to skipping Piper's family reunions. For her part, Piper didn't really connect with Fred's family either, and when his parents died, she opted not to go to either of their funerals. But when Fred got the job offer from the University of Richmond, which came with a $30,000 a year bump in pay, both Piper and Fred agreed that financially at least, the move from Texas to Virginia made all kinds of sense for their family. The extra money meant that Piper did not have to worry about working if she didn't want to, and she could hire a cleaning service to take care of the house

along with a nanny who could help with the kids. And at first, Fred was sure that the move had given all of them a fresh start. But by 1995, 12 years after they had gotten married, and just one year after their move from Texas to Virginia, Fred and Piper were seeing a marriage counselor. Piper was just not able to pass the Virginia Bar exam. That's the test that would have allowed her to practice law in Virginia. And even though she had been reluctant to leave her close-knit family in Texas, Piper was not prepared for just how much she missed her mother and siblings, particularly

her older sister Tina, who had always been available to help babysit the kids and to take Piper's side in any of the complaints Piper had about Fred. Prone to postpartum depression, the arrival of the Roundtree Javelin's third baby a year after the move to Virginia seemed to send Piper into a tailspin. But even therapy, both marriage counseling and private therapy with a psychiatrist, did not stop Piper from racking up nearly $52,000 in credit card debt any more than it would reverse the couple's slide into divorce a few years later. any more than it would reverse the couple's slide into divorce a few years later. But still, nothing in those rocky years could have prepared Fred for that afternoon when Piper had orchestrated his arrest on that charge of domestic violence. Even now, sitting inside the place of worship he had returned to after the divorce, Fred could feel the shame and stunned surprise he felt as he left his office under police escort,

hearing the whispers of students and seeing the shock on the faces of his colleagues. But maybe that was exactly what Fred had needed in order to accept that he and his children were probably better off without Piper. So, immediately after being released from the police station that day, Fred had obeyed the terms of the restraining order and kept his distance from Piper by moving into a motel not far from Richmond University, but he also wasted no time in hiring an attorney, and one month later, Fred appeared in juvenile court and argued successfully that the Roundtree Joplin children were not safe with Piper. And when the judge examined the evidence of Piper's erratic behavior,

the times when she had simply forgotten to pick the children up from school or other activities, and the complete lack of evidence that Piper was a victim of domestic violence, the judge granted Fred temporary custody of Jocelyn, Paxton, and Callie. Until that moment, Fred had believed that the love he and Piper shared for their three kids might be enough of a foundation for them to have a civil divorce. Instead, the children became the battlefield for a bitter custody fight. In the end, the court had not believed any of Piper's charges of abuse, and when Fred had filed for divorce, he did so on the grounds that Piper had been unfaithful.

He had cited Piper's affair with their oldest daughter's doctor, although it would turn out that there had been other men too, maybe even going back to the mid-1990s. And there was nothing quick or easy about how they reached a settlement. Piper had repeatedly asked for delays in the divorce proceedings, until finally in 2002, almost a year to the date after Fred had filed for the divorce, when Piper did not show up for a hearing on finances and custody, the judge went ahead and made a final ruling without her. And that ruling would turn out to be absolutely devastating for the one-time stay-at-home mom, because on all fronts, Piper would wind up losing.

According to that judgment, Fred, whose money had been used to purchase their house in Texas and their house in Virginia, and whose retirement account was much larger than Piper's, would get nearly all the couple's property and liquid assets. But it was the judgment on custody that would completely sever the bond between the parents, because when Fred would eventually press for full legal and physical custody, the court sided with him. That meant that Piper would need to go through Fred to make any and all arrangements to visit their three kids. And as far as support payments went, citing Piper's potential as an attorney to out-earn Fred's own salary as a professor, the court also agreed that Fred no longer needed to pay Piper support money, and that

going forward, it was Piper who would need to get a job and pay Fred $890 in child support every month. Fred had had no illusions that Piper would actually make those payments, at least not on a monthly basis. And he was right. Piper had tried twice to declare bankruptcy as a way of setting aside the whole divorce decree until a federal bankruptcy court actually prevented her from filing a third time. But Piper's new financial obligations did mean that in order to practice law, she would need to move 1,200 miles away, back to Texas, where she had passed that state's bar exam and could practice law. But even though Piper had been the loser in the battle over custody, she had found ways to strike back at

Fred. And when it came to revenge, Piper had a lot of help from her sister Tina. And just thinking of Tina made Fred's body tense. Immediately following the court ruling on child support and custody, Tina had written a 43-page so-called psychological profile of Fred. A nurse practitioner who ran her own women's health care clinic, Tina was not a licensed mental health professional. But that did not stop her from attacking every aspect of Fred's character, personality, and temperament. In the report, Tina accused Fred of physical and sexual assault, drug abuse, and various personality disorders. She also warned parents that any child

or minor that Fred had contact with was at risk of being psychologically abused. Describing the report as a quote, court document, so it sounded very official, Piper then emailed her sister's denunciation of Fred to his co-workers and university administration, as well as to members of the Parent Teachers Association at the schools the children all went to, and to the leaders of the scout clubs the kids attended, and to the leaders of the scout clubs the kids attended, and to the list of friends and acquaintances Fred and Piper had once shared. During that especially dark period, when the divorce and the pain was so raw that Fred questioned if life could ever seem normal again, he had wondered who hated him more, his ex-wife Piper or his ex-sister-in-law Tina?

Just the thought of that question made Fred doubly relieved that he had changed his will just this last year so that in the event of his death, custody of his kids, along with the control over the financial assets his kids would inherit, would go to his brother, Michael, who lived with his wife and their two kids in Northern Virginia. Fred had also installed a home security system just in case. He'd never forgotten the time when Piper had taken their youngest child and disappeared without telling Fred, only to turn up in Texas at her sister Tina's with a story of how Fred had started trying to drug Piper. In fact, it had been the other way around. After Fred and Piper split, Fred had learned from a neighbor that Piper had confessed to spiking Fred's morning coffee with

the antidepressant Prozac. Fred was suddenly brought back to the present by a gentle nudge from his 15-year-old daughter Jocelyn, and he realized with a start that he had spent the last several minutes just going through the motions of the Friday evening service. He thought again of the plaque outside the temple, that what the Lord asked of him was justice, mercy, and humility. Fred was self-aware enough to know that when he and Piper divorced two years ago, he was thinking more of justice than he was of mercy or humility. But now, two years after the divorce agreement was signed, it seemed like both he and Piper had reached a much better place, both as a divorced couple and as individuals. It had taken Fred a while, but he had grown into his all-consuming role as single dad, and all three kids were doing

exceptionally well. He loved taking the kids to their after-school and summer activities, they had become close to their uncle, Fred's brother Michael, and just five months earlier, Fred had ventured out into the dating world and had begun a promising relationship with another single parent, a down-to-earth woman named Charlene. As for Piper, she had begun dating soon after returning to Texas, where she now lived in Houston, very close to her sister Tina. Piper had her own small law practice, but made most of her income doing research into land titles. It was steady work that did not require a law degree, and it paid well enough that she had been able to afford a house of her own, a new black Liberty Jeep, and a lifestyle that seemed comfortable and secure. Even though Piper was often behind on child

support, Fred was accommodating about any plans Piper could make to see their kids. In fact, just a few weeks earlier, Piper had come east and taken all three kids on a long weekend camping trip in one of Virginia's beautiful national forests. And even though her in-person visits with the kids were not as long or as many as Piper wanted, it wasn't unusual for her to call the kids more than once a day. Maybe, Fred thought as he gave Jocelyn a nudge back to show her he was paying attention again, maybe he and Piper both were ready to practice mercy and humility. Back at the Joplin house on Hearth Glow Lane, Fred pulled into the driveway of the detached two-car garage. A moment later, the children piled out of the Ford Explorer

and made their way inside the handsome brick-and-wood two-story house set on a slight rise and surrounded by stately trees. Halloween had always been Fred's favorite holiday, and he and the kids had bagged up most of the fallen leaves and stuffed them into leaf bags that were the shape and color of carved orange pumpkins. Throughout the quiet and affluent subdivision, with its neat green and white welcome sign that read Kingsley, homemade scarecrows and ghosts made out of white sheets watched over the comfortable homes, all set back from the road, some with living rooms and kitchen lights shining through the windows. Once inside 1515 Hearth Glow Lane, Fred wasted

no time shepherding the three children off to bed. It was around 10 p.m. when he had said his final goodnight and headed back downstairs to clean up and give Charlene a call before heading to bed himself. By the time Fred had switched off his bedside light and settled down to sleep, the painful memories of the past had been replaced with a sense of pleasant anticipation for the weekend ahead. Tomorrow was Saturday, and while the children slept in, Fred would enjoy his coffee and newspaper, and after that, all four of them would have a busy day, going to the annual Neighborhood Pumpkin Festival, spending time together and with friends, and putting the finishing touches on their costumes. And on Sunday, they would all

enjoy the kind of safe scares that came with going door-to-door trick-or-treating. At 6.37 a.m. the next morning, Fred Jablin's next-door neighbors awoke from a deep sleep to the sudden sound of three gunshots. Getting out of bed and stepping to the open window, former Marine Bob McArdle pushed aside the curtain and saw a shadowy figure running across his front yard and then disappearing into neighboring house lots. While dogs began barking and other neighbors were wondering if a car had backfired or if a hunter was shooting ducks down on Tuckahoe Creek, Bob immediately picked up the phone and called 911. Within minutes of the call, three officers from Henrico County Police Department were

climbing out of the patrol car in front of the McArdle home. Spreading out across the lawns of Hearth Glow Lane, they used flashlights to search in the darkness for the source of the disturbance. But after 20 minutes, the officers reported back to Bob that they had not found anything suspicious. Bob told them that once it was light, he and his wife would take their dog out for a walk, and if they saw anything that could explain the shots, they would follow up with another call to police. 25 minutes later,

it was Doreen McArdle who called 911. Trying her best to keep the panic out of her voice, she explained to dispatch that she, her husband Bob, and their dog were now standing outside of their neighbor's house at 1515 Hearthglow Lane. And Bob had just discovered the body of Fred Jablin. Hello, I am Alice Levine and I am one of the hosts of Wondery's podcast, British Scandal. On our latest series, The Race to Ruin, we tell the story of a British man who took part in the first ever round the world sailing race. Good on him, I hear you say. But there is a problem, as there always is in this show. The man in question hadn't actually sailed before. Oh,

and his boat wasn't seaworthy. Oh, and also tiny little detail, almost didn't mention it. He bet his family home on making it to the finish line. What ensued was one of the most complex cheating plots in British sporting history. To find out the full story, follow British Scandal wherever you listen to podcasts. Or listen early and ad-free on Wondery Plus on Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app. Music ad-free, and you'll always be the first one to catch our new episodes. But that's not all. You get access to other amazing shows like Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries, Morbid, 48 Hours, and 2020, all ad-free too. And you know what that means, uninterrupted listening, so no more cliffhangers. Amazon Music is your home for all things true crime and offers the

most ad-free top podcasts, so we definitely have something for you. And it's already included in your Prime membership. To listen now, all you need to do is go to amazon.com slash ballin. That's amazon.com slash ballin, or download the free Amazon Music app. It's just that easy. The single dad and prominent Richmond University professor was lying in his driveway alongside the family car, his body stretched out on a thin carpet of blood-soaked leaves.

This time, Henrico police responded with a flood of emergency and medical personnel, and within minutes, the quiet neighborhood was alive with flashing lights and sirens. But their response was too late. Fred Jablin was dead. Even as officers strung yellow crime scene tape around the half-acre lot of the Jablin home, a SWAT team had entered the house to make sure the murderer was not inside and if necessary to rescue the three sleeping children. But the house was empty except for Fred's kids. As Jocelyn was escorted out the back door so she would not see her father's body lying in the driveway,

the 15-year-old turned the police officer at her side and she asked him to please make sure her brother, sister, and father got out. By 8 30 a.m. that Saturday morning, Henrico County homicide investigator Kobe Kelly had arrived on the scene and pushed the investigation into high gear. A four-year veteran of the police force, the six-foot, two-inch-tall detective was just 32 years old, but he had a well-deserved reputation for professionalism and for getting results. The Roundtree javelin children were quickly sheltered at the home of a local police officer who knew the javelins and lived in the same area.

A special victims unit was on its way to help break the terrible news of their father's death and to find out what the children may have heard or seen that morning. Detective Kelly's initial examination of both the outside crime scene and the inside of the house showed no evidence that this had been a robbery gone wrong. There was no sign that anything had been taken. And unfortunately, the neighbor who had made the 911 call to police after hearing gunshots and seeing a figure run across his front lawn could not even identify whether that person had been a man or a woman. Hopefully, the crime scene techs who were already there collecting any physical evidence and dusting for fingerprints, would be able to provide more information. But at first glance, it looked to Kelly like this had been a premeditated crime, planned

by someone who must have known Fred Javlin's morning routine well enough to be lying in wait for him when he stepped outside in the dark that morning to pick up the newspaper that had been tossed onto his driveway. outside in the dark that morning to pick up the newspaper that had been tossed onto his driveway. But even before Kelly heard back from the officers he'd sent out to knock on doors and collect information and search for the murder weapon, Kelly knew that there would be plenty of suspects in this case. The victim had been a high-profile college professor with a reputation for working closely with students, any one of whom might have harbored a grudge related to perhaps a failed thesis or maybe a bad grade. With that in mind, Detective Kelly also sent a team out to the

University of Richmond, six miles east, to treat Fred's personal office as a crime scene and to interview faculty and students. The detective also started the process of obtaining search warrants, putting in a subpoena for any relevant phone records. But even as the investigator watched a crime scene tech carefully bag a copper-jacketed hollow point bullet they'd found to the right of the body, Detective Kelly already had the name of the person he was most interested in talking to. In any homicide investigation, the most likely suspects are those with the closest and most intense relationships to the victim. And even though Fred Jablons ex-wife Piper Roundtree

lived 1200 miles to the west in Houston, Texas, she was still number one on Detective Kelly's suspect list. Especially when he heard from the first officers on the scene that Fred and Piper had gone through a very messy divorce just two years earlier, and that custody of the three kids was still an ongoing issue. By 10 a.m. that morning, the oldest of the Roundtree Javelin children had told police that she had heard a gunshot early that morning, but had gone back to sleep. The younger two kids both told police that they had each had separate phone conversations with their mom the afternoon and evening before. She told them she was calling from Galveston, Texas, where she was researching a land title. She'd also told 12-year-old Paxton about a raccoon that was living under the porch of her house. Knowing that the first 48 hours

of any investigation are often the most crucial, Detective Kelly was determined to check out every possible lead. And even though Piper had told her children she had called last night from Texas, Detective Kelly still ordered investigators to check for any passengers named Piper Roundtree who may have flown into Richmond from Houston, Texas over the last several days. may have flown into Richmond from Houston, Texas over the last several days. By 2.30 p.m., Michael Jablin had been informed of his brother's death, and he and his wife were in their car traveling south to Richmond. And by 3.30 p.m., just eight hours after the McCardles had discovered Fred's body and made their second 911 call, Detective Kelly had already caught a major break in the

investigation. His investigators had in fact discovered that a passenger by the name of Roundtree had flown out of Virginia's Norfolk Airport just three hours earlier on a Southwest Airlines flight that was due to arrive back in Houston's Hobby Airport at 4.30 Houston time, which meant 5.30 Virginia time. But there was one problem. The passenger's first name was not Piper. Instead, it was a name Detective Kelly had not yet heard. Tina. Detective Kelly had already found a good picture of Piper Roundtree in one of her children's bedrooms, and the driver's license picture on file for the plane ticket his investigators had discovered

was definitely a different person. Instead of dark brown hair, Tina Roundtree had shoulder-length blonde hair. Glancing at his watch and seeing he had two hours before the plane carrying Tina Roundtree was due to arrive at Hobby Airport in Houston, Detective Kelly rolled into action. Contacting police in Houston, he sent them pictures of both Piper and Tina Roundtree and asked them if they would go to Hobby Airport in time to locate a passenger getting off that Southwest Airlines flight who looked like either of the two women. But it would turn out that Detective Kelly was now in for a series of disappointments. Whoever that passenger named Tina Roundtree was, she had managed to disembark, collect her checked bags,

and apparently leave the airport in Houston without being intercepted or recognized by Houston police. And when Officer Kelly finally reached Piper Roundtree by phone in Houston that night at 9 p.m., 14 hours after Fred had been declared dead, it would turn out that Piper Roundtree would have a rock-solid alibi for the time of the murder. And after being informed by a friend in Richmond about Fred's murder that morning, the only thing Piper wanted to talk about now was where her children were, who was taking care of them, and how they were coping with this devastating news. By now, Detective Kelly had also been filled in on the identity of Tina Roundtree, Piper's older sister, who also lived in Houston. Realizing that he would need to conduct this investigation in two different states, Detective Kelly and his partner headed to Houston to interview the Roundtree sisters.

Before leaving, the lead investigator assigned Detective Chuck Hanna and one other investigator to follow up on Leeds' enrichment. At Detective Kelly's first official interview with Piper on Sunday, October 31st, Fred's ex-wife denied any involvement in Fred's murder. And not only would a friend of hers, who was also a lawyer, place Piper in his office before that Southwest flight ever arrived back in Houston on Saturday, October 30th, the day Fred was killed, Piper would also be able to locate someone who could provide further confirmation of her alibi, a stranger who had seen her at a local bar in Houston on Friday night when the passenger flying under the name Tina Roundtree had already landed 1,200 miles away in Richmond, Virginia.

already landed 1,200 miles away in Richmond, Virginia. As for Piper's sister, Tina Roundtree, where Piper had reacted to the news of Fred's death by wanting to talk about when she could see her kids again, Tina had reacted to the news by being aggressive in her criticism of Fred. She held nothing back when it came to listing his faults as a father, a husband, and a human being. But even though the hatred Tina expressed

was strong enough to constitute a possible motive for Fred's murder, Tina, who had been seen at her health clinic over the weekend, also had an alibi for the Friday night before Fred's murder and the Saturday morning when he was found dead by his neighbors. And both sisters pointed to alternative suspects that were much closer to 1515 Hearthglow Lane than Texas was. First on that list was Michael Jablin, the brother who stood to gain control of Fred's financial assets. And what about Fred's latest love interest? Had police interviewed Charlene yet? And finally, without providing any names, Piper also hinted darkly at enemies Fred had within the University of Richmond. And when Virginia investigators dug deeper into the money trail behind the passenger tickets

belonging to the still unidentified person who traveled under the name Tina Roundtree, the case only got more confusing. The airplane tickets had been purchased by Piper's former boyfriend on a credit card he said he hadn't used in weeks and had assumed was lost. And when investigators in Richmond found a reservation under the name Tina Roundtree at a motel in Richmond for the night before Fred's murder, the name of the person who actually checked into that room showed up in the motel records as Gerilyn Smith. And drifting in the background behind the Roundtree sisters, there was Tina's on-again, off-again boyfriend, who had recently taken Piper off to a shooting range for some target practice. Meanwhile, both Piper and her sister Tina started ducking out on any more

interviews with law enforcement. Instead, the two sisters checked into the expensive and stylish Houstonian Hotel in Central Houston. The only thing Piper seemed to care about now was arranging a court hearing in Virginia to get custody of her three kids. And Tina, who had appointed herself as Piper's guardian and champion, was there to support Piper and keep the press and police at bay. So despite a promising start, three days after the Virginia police had arrived in Houston, Texas, progress into Fred Jablin's murder came to a stuttering halt. And even though detectives in Richmond had turned up some promising evidence, what police needed was someone who could positively

identify the airline passenger who went by the name Tina Roundtree and then place that person in Richmond at the time of Fred's murder. And on Wednesday, November 3rd, five days after Fred Japlin was killed, police finally got the tip they needed to break the case. Based on an interview with a Southwest Airlines ticketing agent and the deconstruction of hundreds of cell phone calls placed during the days before and after Fred Jablons' death, here is a reconstruction of

what happened outside of 1515 Hearthglow Lane on the morning of Saturday, October 30th, 2004. Anyone who knew Frederick Mark Jablon also knew he was a man who enjoyed his routines, especially after all the disruptions of the last two years. He found new meaning in simple pleasures, like getting up at the same time every morning, retrieving his newspaper from the side driveway, then enjoying a freshly brewed pot of coffee in his quiet kitchen. And on this Saturday, when Fred stepped outside dressed in his navy blue sweatpants, sweatshirt, and robe, he also enjoyed knowing that he and

the kids could spend the day together getting ready for Halloween. When he and Piper were together, it had been Fred who took the family pictures, even though it meant that he himself was rarely in any of them. This year, he would make sure to have his neighbors take pictures of him and the three kids. It had been a long haul getting through the divorce, but despite the painful memories that had preoccupied him last night during the Friday evening service at Temple Beth Ahaba, the fact was that Fred felt pretty good about his life and about his kids. He and Piper might not see eye to eye, and Fred doubted he'd ever fully trust his ex-wife again, but he knew she loved their kids as deeply as he did. As Fred headed slowly for the driveway, he could see the tall trees that ringed the big backyard and feel the chill air

on his face and ankles. This time tomorrow, daylight savings time would come to an end, and clocks would have been set back an hour. Instead of darkness, he'd be watching the sun rise. Still, he liked this feeling of being all alone, the only person awake and outside. Except that Fred was not alone. Standing quietly in the shadow on the far side of the garage, Fred's killer had felt their pulse quicken at the sound of the back door opening and then closing softly behind Fred. Now, the killer heard the slight rustle of leaves as Fred turned right out of the back kitchen door and began walking towards the open space between the house and the garage, which was set back even farther from the street than the house was. The newspaper lay neatly folded on the far side of the black Ford Explorer that was

parked near the top of the driveway. The killer knew Fred would walk between the garage doors and around the front bumper of the vehicle to retrieve the paper, and when Fred did exactly that, the killer would be ready. Now adjusting their blue latex gloves, the killer took a slow, deliberate breath. The killer assumed the children were asleep in the house, but even if they were awake, or if they woke up, and even came down the stairs or looked out the bedroom windows, they wouldn't see anything. The killer would be gone, and Fred's body would be hidden from view by the big black car in the driveway. A moment later, the sound of rustling leaves gave way to the sound of slippers on pavement, but as Fred rounded the front bumper

of his Ford Explorer, the garage doors on his left, and the children's basketball hoop on the other side of the driveway facing him, he paused for a second before making another quarter turn to his right to scan the ground for the folded newspaper. At that moment, Fred's killer stepped out of their hiding place on the far side of the garage. This shot would not be fired at point-blank range, or even close enough to leave any gunpowder residue on Fred's sweatshirt or robe. But the killer would still hit their target. A moment later, as Fred straightened and began to turn back towards whatever he had just seen out of the corner of his eye, his killer pulled the trigger of the.38 caliber revolver loaded with its copper-jacketed hollow-point bullets. And as the sound of the shots died away, the killer watched as Fred

crumbled to the ground. Reaching the pavement, Fred's body rolled so he lay face down but still partly on his side, his glasses landing a foot or so away from his face, his knees drawn up slightly towards his chest. Although neighbors would report hearing three gunshots, only two bullets hit their mark. The second shot entered the soft tissue of Fred's right arm back to front, the bullet traveling downward and missing any vital tissue. That was the bullet that would be recovered at the crime scene in just a few hours. It was the first shot that proved fatal. of bullet, designed to mushroom out upon impact so it did maximum internal damage, had entered from the back, striking Fred in the lower right side before ripping upward through his spleen, kidney, liver, diaphragm, and aorta, the main artery carrying blood away from the heart. By the time the first dogs in the neighborhood had started to bark, the killer was running across

the neighbor's front lawn towards the darker shade of the trees that bordered each house lot. The medical examiner, who would later perform the autopsy on Fred's body, could not rule out the possibility that if Fred had been found immediately after that first 911 call at around 6.37 a.m., he might have survived his injuries. Still, the first medics on the scene an hour later had done everything they could. Despite not finding a pulse, they still turned Fred onto his back and cut away his shirt to inject heart-stimulating drugs and to perform CPR, but they were too late. Sometime between that first 911 call and the second 911 call more than an hour later,

Fred had died of organ failure and massive internal bleeding. By the time police had covered Fred's body with a white sheet and escorted his terrified children out of the house, Fred's killer was already on the road making the two-hour drive south to Virginia's Norfolk International Airport. After returning their rented maroon minivan, Fred's killer made their way to the ticketing agent at Southwest Airlines. At 8.29 a.m., two hours after murdering Fred, the killer booked a flight first to Baltimore, 200 miles north, and then on from Baltimore to Houston, Texas.

As Piper Roundtree handed the Southwest Airlines ticketing agent her sister Tina's ID and the ticket Piper had bought using the credit card that she'd taken from her boyfriend, Jerry Walters. She made a quick adjustment to the blonde wig she was wearing over her dark brown hair, and she also made sure her sunglasses completely covered her brown eyes. A few minutes later, when Piper sat down in the waiting area until it was time to board her 12.30 a.m. flight back to Houston, she pulled out her cell phone and scrolled through the long list of calls she had made since arriving in Richmond two days earlier, on Thursday, October 28th. She was smart to have

asked the receptionist at the motel in Richmond to change her name in the register from Tina Roundtree to Gerilyn Smith, just one more way to throw police off her trail. And when the police did come to question her, she could honestly tell them that things with Fred were so much better now than they had been two years ago. But for Piper, her camping vacation earlier in the month with the kids had finally shown her that getting along better with Fred still wasn't enough. The person her children really needed wasn't their father, it was her, their mother. And soon enough, they would have her, and only her. As Piper tucked Tina's driver's license back inside her wallet, Piper looked closely at the small picture of her sister. Tina was a little taller and heavier, her hair was blonde, and her

eyes were a bright blue. But when Piper wore the wig and dark glasses, all people saw were the similarities in the sister's faces and expressions and that wide Roundtree smile. But it would turn out that Piper's disguise, like her alibi, was not quite as good as she thought it was. Five days after Piper Roundtree killed the father of her three kids, Detective Kelly from Virginia knew that in order to solve this murder investigation, he needed to get a positive ID on Southwest Airlines passenger Tina Roundtree. So on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 3rd, the same day that hundreds of people were attending Fred Jablons' funeral service back in Richmond, the investigator made one more trip back to Hobby

Airport in Houston. He tracked down the name of the Southwest Airline agent who had checked Tina Roundtree's ticket and luggage on her flight from Houston out to Richmond one week earlier on Thursday, October 28th. When he met Kathy Mollie, the big detective from Virginia showed her Tina Roundtree's airline ticket and asked Kathy if she could remember anything about the passenger. A moment later, Kathy handed the ticket back with a friendly smile. Yeah, I remember, she told the investigator. Kathy went on to say that the passenger was a very attractive woman, nicely dressed, but there was something else Kathy remembered too. The passenger was obviously wearing a blonde wig and along with her suitcase, she was carrying a gun. And when Detective Kelly showed Kathy the

pictures he now carried with him everywhere, one of Tina Roundtree and one of Piper Roundtree, Kathy didn't even hesitate before tapping the photo of Piper. That's her, Kathy said. That's the woman who checked the gun. On Monday, November 8th, 2004, 10 days after Fred was shot to death outside of his home on Hearthglow Lane, Henrico County Police charged his ex-wife, Piper Roundtree, with first-degree murder. Piper was arrested shortly after leaving a custody hearing in Virginia, at which Piper asked the court to grant her, and not Fred's brother Michael, custody of the three Roundtree Javelin children. In addition to having been identified as the passenger traveling to and from Richmond under the name Tina Roundtree, Piper's cell phone records had also placed her in and around Richmond from Thursday, October 28th through the morning of

Saturday, October 30th, the morning of Fred's death. Even though Piper claimed that she and her sister Tina often used one another's cell phones, the phone that Piper used on Friday evening, the night before Fred was killed, to call her son Paxton and tell him she was in Texas, was the same cell phone that had pinged off cell phone towers in Richmond to connect that call to Paxton's cell phone. As for Piper's alibis, it would turn out that after checking credit card receipts, the man who had placed Piper in the Volcano Bar in Houston on that Friday night before Fred's murder had made a mistake. It had been Saturday talked to Piper in Houston midday on Saturday before that Southwest flight from Baltimore arrived in Houston,

it turned out that he had made an earlier statement to a reporter saying that the first time he had seen Piper in nearly a year was the day after Fred's murder, Sunday, October 31st, when she would have already been back in Houston for nearly 24 hours. On Saturday, February 26th, 2005, one year and four months after Fred was murdered, a Virginia jury spent less than one hour in deliberations before coming back with a guilty verdict in the trial of Piper Roundtree. Her defense attorney argued, unsuccessfully, that the real murderer was Piper's sister, Tina, and when Piper herself took the stand, she implied the same thing, while at the same time insisting to the end that she herself had absolutely nothing to do with Fred's murder.

When asked point-blank if she wanted the jury to think her sister, Tina, committed the murder, Piper replied, I have no idea what happened. Piper would use that same refrain when she was asked how her cell phone had appeared in Virginia in the days before and on the day of Fred's murder, or why she decided to brush up on her shooting skills the week before Fred's death, or why she had used her boyfriend's credit card to purchase a blonde wig, or how her black Liberty Jeep had wound up in the parking lot at the Hobby Airport in Houston from Thursday, October 28th to Saturday, October 30th, Piper told the jury she either had no idea how those things could have happened, or that they

were just meaningless coincidences that had nothing to do with Fred's murder. Two and a half months later, on May 7th, 2005, Piper was sentenced to life in prison. Her first request for parole in 2020 was denied. She will be eligible for parole again in 2033, when she will be 72 years old. On Friday, November 4, 2005, days before Piper's trial for murder, Piper's sister, Tina, pled guilty in a Houston courtroom to a charge related to Fred Japlin's murder, attempted tampering of evidence. Tina was fined $300 and sentenced to 80 hours of community service. Tina died in 2020.

In 2006, a Virginia court granted full custody of Fred and Piper's three children to Fred's brother, Michael Jablun. We'd like to say a special thanks to author Catherine Casey, whose book Die, My Love, a true story of revenge, murder, and two Texas sisters, was our main source in creating this podcast. Because Piper Roundtree has never admitted any guilt or involvement in the murder of Fred Jablun, we relied on the prosecution's evidence and theory of motive to create our reconstruction of this crime. If you're interested in finding out more, please see our source list for additional background and information. Thank you for listening to the Mr. Ballin Podcast. If you got something out of this episode and you haven't done this already,

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