The Misery Machine - The Tragic Case of Heather Snively

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

Before Netflix decided talk about Taylor Parker, there were other total scumbags that came before her. These are the victim's stories:Bobbie Joe Stinnett - https://youtu.be/1iMjTGeQSjc?si=ls3PJ9N0-QwgPS3 Marlen Ochoa Lopez & Yovanny Lopez - https://youtu.be/YHCQK115__M?si=WC_ieZqKZVu4I3GjReagan Simmons-Hancock - https://youtu.be/hVcb3SKe6P8?si=5fXhRFIVG9a0S1Z7Many folks have asked us to cover the case of Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, and I can assure you, her story is in the works. This week, Drewby and Yergy head to Beaverton, Oregon, to discuss the case of Heather Megan Snively, a 21-year-old pregnant woman who was murdered on June 5th, 2009, who was lured to the home of Korena Elaine Roberts, a deranged woman that she may have met on Craigslist, under the pretense of purchasing baby clothes.Support Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachineJoin Our Facebook Group: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachineOfficial Merch Store: https://miserymachine-shop.fourthwall.com/Instagram: miserymachinepodcastTwitter: misery_podcastDiscord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM#documentary #themiserymachine #truecrime 🚨 EDUCATIONAL, DOCUMENTARY, SCIENTIFIC, OR ARTISTIC CONTENT DISCLAIMER 🚨CONTENT WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS ABOUT A SENSITIVE TOPIC INVOLVING LOSS OF LIFE. WE'VE REMOVED ANY GRAPHIC CONTENT TO COMPLY WITH YOUTUBE'S GUIDELINES. WE AIM TO PROVIDE INFORMATIVE, FACTUAL JOURNALISM ON A TRAGIC EVENT IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST THAT DOES NOT DISMISS ITS SERIOUSNESS. ALL CLIPS ARE USED UNDER THE DOCTRINE OF FAIR USE FOR NEWS REPORTING AND ANALYSISFair Use Disclaimer: "Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for 'fair use' for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."THE CONTENT IN THIS VIDEO IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, BASED ON BELIEVED RELIABLE SOURCES. THEY MAY NOT BE CURRENT OR FULLY ACCURATE. VIEWERS SHOULD DO THEIR OWN RESEARCH AND NOT SOLELY RELY ON THIS INFORMATION. WE'RE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INACCURACIES OR OMISSIONS.WE DO NOT CONDONE, ENDORSE, OR ENCOURAGE ANY OF THE BEHAVIORS OR ACTIVITIES SHOWN. WE URGE EVERYONE TO ALWAYS ACT RESPONSIBLY AND WITHIN THE BOUNDS OF THE LAW.

Heather Megan Snively was born on February 12, 1988. She grew up in St. Albans, West Virginia, in a small town in the southeastern part of the state. Her parents, Heidi and Kevin, divorced when she was young. Her mother remarried a man named David Kidd who Heather considered a father figure from the time she was three years old. She had five younger siblings, one brother, two step sisters in West Virginia,

and two stepbrothers in Maryland. Her father, Kevin, would later describe raising her as an outgoing person who saw the best in everyone. Heather attended St. Albans High School where she was active in ROTC. She was a member of the Green Valley Church of God in St. Albans. At some point during high school, her family moved to Edgewater, Maryland. By her early 20s, Heather had worked as a cashier, first at a supermarket and later at a Popeye's restaurant. Neighbors in Maryland remembered her as someone who was almost always honest. line. According to her former neighbor, Sandy Carson, Heather's number one thing to do was to be

on the computer. She sold so many things off Craigslist. Heather got engaged to a man named Christopher Pop and the two of them were starting to plan a life together. When Christopher found work out west, he moved to Oregon ahead of her. While they were apart, Heather sold off their shared belongings on Craigslist to help make ends meet, and the two of them stayed in close contact the entire time. In the spring of 2009, Heather found out that she was pregnant. She and Christopher picked out a name together for their son, John Stephen. She was eight months along and due that July. By every account we found, she was thrilled. In May of 2009, Heather left Edgewater and moved across the country to Tigard, Oregon, to be with Christopher

before the baby arrived. A few miles away in the Portland suburb of Beaverton, 27-year-old Karina Elaine Roberts was living with her boyfriend of five years, Jan Shubin, and her two children from previous relationships. Karina had a complicated history of her own. She had worked a string of jobs over the years, including a temp agency, Macy's, Michaels, and FedEx, but none of these jobs lasted that long. Court records from a child support dispute with the father of one of her children showed that she had quit a job back in 2007 to go to school and that she was getting by on support payments and financial aid. A child's father, a man named Travis Tully later told reporters his relationship with Karina had been brief. He described her as childish and difficult to communicate with. He said,

she's just not normal, so absolutely insane. It's like she had a broken wire or something. Travis said he didn't know of any history of mental illness, but his main concern was getting his daughter than 10 years old out of Oregon entirely. Same year, Karina suffered a stillbirth. Quirna, those who knew her, the loss left her seemingly fixated on having another baby. She started watching videos of births on YouTube, sewing baby clothes, and telling people on and off for close to a year that she was pregnant. By the spring of 2009, that story turned into something more elaborate. Karina told Jan that she was pregnant with twins. She started taking prenatal vitamins and told people she was taking midwife classes at a local community college.

She also said she had ultrasound appointments scheduled, though no such appointments existed. There's no indication Karina had a criminal record or that law enforcement had any contact with her before the events of today's story began. To the people living around her, she didn't stand out as dangerous. According to her neighbor Terry King, you get the impression that whoever did this must be crazy, but this woman didn't seem crazy on the surface. Terry said Karina smiled and waved whenever he saw her. and that she told his wife she was expecting soon. By the end of May of 2009, Karina had set up a crib on her front lawn and bought a stroller at a neighbor's garage sale.

That neighbor, Wendy Persinger, asked why, as Karina's own children, had long outgrown a stroller, Karina answered simply, I'm pregnant, of course. She also posted an ad on Craigslist looking for baby clothes. She sat around and talked to us while she was purchasing things. And then your mother-in-law asked her why she was... Yeah, she asked her why she was buying all this baby stuff because her kids are like this tall, and she goes, well, of course, I'm pregnant. And she just seemed very happy about it, very cheerful.

On Friday, June 5, 2009, Heather drove to Karina's rental home on Northwest Mill Creek Drive in Beaverton. Investigators believe the two women had known each other for about a week. John Hall, Heather's grandfather, said, I don't think she'd ever met her face-to-face before. Whatever the case may be, the arrangement was simple enough. Karina had baby clothes to give away, and Heather, who was eight months pregnant herself, needed them. What happened once Heather got inside that house has never been fully laid out in public records? What we do know comes from forensic evidence, witness statements, and Karina's own boyfriend.

Jan left work that morning at 6 a.m. He came home for lunch around 11, like always. Karina made him a sandwich. Nothing seemed off. He left again and stopped at his bank around 2.30 in the afternoon. There, he got an urgent call from Karina. She told him, I need you, and sounded like she was in pain. When Jan got home, he found blood on the floor. He went toward the bathroom where the water was running and found Karina sitting in the bathtub wearing only a bra,

crying uncontrollably and holding a newborn baby boy. Investigators believe that sometime in the window between Jan leaving for his lunch break, and that phone call, Karina attacked Heather in the bathroom. She struck her somewhere between 15 and 30 times with a collapsible metal baton, mostly to the back of her head. Heather fought back. She bit Karina hard enough to leave a mark on her arm and left a scratch nearly five inches long on the left side of her neck.

A strand of Karina's hair was later found in Heather's hand. Medical examiners determined the blows to Heather's head probably knocked her unconscious, but it wasn't the head wounds that killed her. Heather's official cause of death was due to an incision to her abdomen and the blood loss that followed from it. Using a blade of some sort, Karina cut open Heather's abdomen and removed the baby boy from her womb. She then wrapped Heather's body in carpet and hid it in a crawl space beneath the house.

She ran a bath, climbed him with the baby, and called Yon. Investigators later noted that Yon's job required him to buy razor blades for work and that a pack of them had gone missing two days before Heather was killed. No weapon was ever publicly confirmed as the one used, but the detail was significant enough that detectives asked him about it directly. The moment Yon saw the baby wasn't breathing, he started CPR. To Wallaton Valley, fire, and rescue was dispatched to the house at about 242 that afternoon and arrived to find Yon still performing CPR.

Paramedics rushed both Korena and the infant to Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. Doctors worked to revive the baby boy, but they couldn't save him. While treating Karina, who had initially told medics she had just given birth, doctors realized something didn't add up. There was no medical evidence that she recently delivered a child at all. Hospital staff alerted police. Sheriff's deputies arrived at the hospital around 437 that afternoon. By then, investigators had learned someone who had been hurt might still be at the house of Mill Creek Drive.

They went there and found Heather's body in the crawl space. Other items later seized from the home include the collapsible metal baton found with blood and hair on it, a steak knife, a Winnie the Pooh comforter, an Eddie Bauer baby sling, and a crib bumper pad, all with blood on them. As well as a CD of Agatha Christie's The ABC Murders, a novel about a serial killer whose victims are murdered in alphabetical order. Karina was arrested at the hospital at quarter to six that evening. We're in a court documents, in a brief moment alone with Yantha Hospital, She told him that she had done a horrible thing. Facebook posts from a member of Karina's own family posted in the days after the arrest read,

Something truly awful has happened in my family. Please pray for us because we are going to need it. Around 11 that evening, Christopher, who had been calling Heather's phone all evening with no answer, went to the police to report her missing. He found out a short time later that she was already dead. The following morning, a small memorial had, appeared outside of Karina's house. A teddy bear, a bouquet of flowers, and a handwritten note that read, may God be with you. The medical examiner determined John Stephen never took a breath

outside his mother's body. Under Oregon law at the time, that single finding meant prosecutors couldn't file a separate homicide charge in his death, only in Heather's. Investigators also publicly stated that Karina may have reached out to other pregnant women in the Portland area before she settled on Heather. They asked anyone who had contact with Karina in person or online to please come forward. Nothing's going to bring Heather back. A pregnant woman was murdered by someone she apparently befriended on Craigslist. Police have charged Karina Roberts with killing Heather Snively, Snively, who family members said was eight months pregnant, was found dead with the baby no longer in her womb. Authorities won't say whether Snively gave birth before she died or if the baby

was removed. Roberts is accused of killing Snively and then trying to pass the 21-year-old's baby boy off as her own. The baby died. Family members said the women recently met through the online classified service. Her fiance told me that she was on Craigslist, like for baby clothes. Snively, who grew up in West Virginia, recently moved to Oregon. She was just her own, her own self, a unique individual. And I'm just really sorry for her. and her family's loss. The victim's stepmother said his wife is still in shock. She just, she just wants to hear her voice and she knows that she'll never hear it again. And it's kind of rough. Roberts has been charged with murder in Snively's death. She could face

charges in the baby's death as well. Roberts, who has two children under the age of 10, is being held without bond. Corina was held without bail at the Washington County Jail in Hillsborough and placed on 24-hour watch. June 15, 2009, a grand jury indicted her on four counts of aggravated murder, charges that, at the time, carried a potential death sentence. Prosecutors said the aggravated murder charges reflected that Karina had attempted to kidnap and rob Heather, then tried to conceal what she had done. She was ultimately also charged with one additional count of murder

and two counts of first-degree robbery. She pled not guilty. Held without bail under... Watch at the Washington County Jail, 27-year-old Karina Roberts makes her first court appearance. Investigators say she murdered 21-year-old Heather Snively, who was eight months pregnant and sliced open her womb to steal the baby. Neighbor Terry King says Roberts had been telling everyone she was pregnant, even her live-in boyfriend. And his wife had apparently called his work and told him or had a message related to him that she had just delivered a baby at home. And so then he rushed home from work.

On Friday, investigators say Roberts and her boyfriend called 911 saying she'd just given birth and the baby wasn't breathing. The baby died and at the hospital doctors determined Roberts was lying. Sheriff's deputy searched her home and found Heather Snively's body stuffed in a crawl space, her eight-month-old fetus missing from her body. And the district attorney now says Roberts may not be charged with the baby's murder. In Oregon, another to have, in order to have a homicide, it has to be a living human being. So that is a central issue to what charges, if any, can be levied for the child. So if the baby never took a breath outside the room, it's not considered a living being?

Most likely that would be the case, yes. Heather's mom says her daughter met Karina Roberts on the website Craigslist and that Heather thought she was going to Roberts home to exchange baby clothes. At a bail hearing in November of 2009, Karina's attorney first revealed the 2007 stillbirth and the months she spent telling people she was pregnant. Separately, Yon told the detective that Karina had informed hospital staff she had been on antidepressants since that pregnancy. A court ordered psychological evaluation later found no psychosis

and no other diagnosable mental disorder. Then, on October 6, 2010, the day her trial was set to begin, Karina pled guilty to one count of aggravated murder in exchange for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. District Attorney Bob Herman told reporters after the hearing that the deal only came together after negotiation. An earlier defense proposal would have left open the possibility of parole someday, which prosecutors wouldn't accept. He said, I wasn't going to go to the family with anything less than life without parole. He added that taking the case to a jury and seeking the death penalty would have introduced uncertainty

and put Heather's family through the added toll of a trial, which he noted is never easy on the family. court, Karina appeared visibly smaller than she had in her arrest photo. She wore green and white striped jail pants and an orange jail issued shirt. Her hair pulled into a bun and she sobbed through most of the hearing, answering Judge Don Latterno's questions mostly in single words. When the judge asked whether she was pleading guilty because she believed she was guilty, she answered, I am taking responsibility because I am guilty. prosecutors laid out the autopsy findings and confirmed what the medical examiner believed had actually killed her. Heather's fiancé Christopher addressed Karina directly in court, telling her he would have liked to see her face a death sentence instead.

He said, you've taken away my fiance, my son, I don't know what to say to you. You've got a long sentence ahead of you. Heather's father, Kevin, spoke next while a slideshow of his daughter's photos played behind him in the courtroom, told Karina, you took my daughter. My life is never going to be the same. You've messed up our family. My mom and dad have one less grandchild. I hope you never forget that. Years later, Kevin said he still struggled with what happened to his daughter, he said. I can't believe someone would do something like this, especially to a wonderful girl like my daughter. She had everything to live for.

A written statement from Heather's mother and stepfather, Heidi and Dave Kidd, who didn't attend the hearing in person, was read aloud in court. They remembered Heather as a happy, generous woman who always had a smile that would light up a room. Their statement continued pulling zero punches. There is no punishment severe enough for what you did. We hope you're haunted every day for the rest of your life by what you did. Karina is currently being held at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, Oregon, and will die in prison for what she did. Heather's case also prompted action in the Oregon legislature.

On June 15, 2009, the same thing. day Karina was indicted, Republican state senator Bruce Starr introduced a bill that would add knowingly killing a pregnant woman to the list of aggravated murder factors, a classification he called maternal homicide. At the time, Oregon was not among the 36 states of the fetal homicide laws that allow separate prosecution for the death of a fetus. A federal version of such a law had been passed in 2004, driven in large part by the 2002 murder of Lacey Peterson in California. In the wake of Heather's death, while the investigation was still unfolding, her family began planning how to say goodbye.

Her mother, Heidi, planned a memorial service back in St. Albans, West Virginia, in the town where Heather grew up. Her fiancé Christopher and her father, Kevin, began arranging a separate celebration of her life at her grandparents' home in Maryland. Now, it should be noted that the day Heather met Karina, she mailed a card to her grandmother. it read, can you believe Mom and Dave are going to be grandparents? The card was postmarked June 5th, 2009, the same day that she was murdered.

It arrived at her grandmother's house three days later, after the family already knew what had been done to her and her unborn child. Heather was cremated. According to her memorial page, her ashes were combined with her son, John Stevens, and divided between her two parents. The description on Heather's memorial page reads simply, Heather and her baby were murdered by someone wanting her baby as their own. Years later, Kevin took a film crew to one of Heather's favorite spots growing up, Quiet Waters Park on Maryland's eastern shore.

He said of Karina, and I quote, I hope I've forgiven her. It's almost impossible, really. He's also said that even now, he still thinks of himself as a grandfather. He said, I'm still a grandfather. I just have to wait until I get to heaven for that. A woman killing another woman for her unborn child is rare, but you'd be surprised to know it happens more often than we might think.

The most common ones in media are the cases of Lisa Montgomery and Taylor Parker. Taylor Parker's being a very, very disgusting and crazy. situation. You may have seen it on Netflix, but if you don't have Netflix or would like to support us, we have over an hour-long video on it with the body cam footage here. If you want to check it out, we would very much appreciate it.