True Crime All The Time - Christina Sanoubane

Episode Date: April 20, 2026

Christina Sanoubane was stabbed to death days after leaving an abusive relationship and moving into a new home for a fresh start. Christina’s ex-boyfriend was the first person questioned, but when he presented a verifiable alibi, authorities turned to alternate suspects. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss the murder of Christina Sanoubane. Police looked heavily into her ex, but they also focused on one of her neighbors and a man who ultimately discovered her body. One of these men started changing his story, which ultimately led the police to lock in on him. Once the evidence began to mount, it painted a very disturbing and grisly picture.You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

everyone and welcome to episode 490 of the true crime all the time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in true crime Mike Gibson. Give me, how are you? Yeah, I'm good man and you? Doing great. Are you great? Great. Great. Like Tony the Tiger great? I don't know if I'm that good because that's a that's a really that's a great great. That's a great great. Yeah. But I'm doing really good. Now you just downgrading yourself from great to I'm doing good. Because then I think of that kind of great. I don't know if I'm that good. You don't need that type of pressure. I don't need that kind of pressure. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Andrew Bonham. Hey, Bonham, man. I'm

wonder if he's good with the drums. Maybe. Yeah. Jessica Kramer Gregory. Well, hey, thanks, Gregory. Stacey Coral Lava. Oh, thanks. Stacey. Love your mom. Ashley. Hey, Ashley. Tim Moran. Hey, Tim. Lori, Cuatro Siochi. I just want to say it. Rosh Rose, you know, it just sounds so much fun to say. Eventually, you'll get it right. I don't even know if I got it right, to be honest with. Probably neither one of them. No.

And last but not least, El Miller. This is a tough name to get. I think you pronounce it as Miller. And then if we go back into the vault, this week, we selected Brittany. What up, Brittany? So we appreciate all the support we give. Love it.

We have a new episode right now on True Crime All the Time Unsolved. We're talking about Rico Harris. and he was a former Harlem Globetrotter who left his mom's home in California in 2014 and he's never been heard or seen from since. Remember that Harlem Globetrotter music over time they were getting ready to come out on the court? I don't know exactly how it goes.

But yeah, I used to watch them because they used to be on television. They play that one, that same team all the time. Washington something. Washington generals or something like that. and they just get, you know, they get trounced. Love going to. I used to go watch them play at Har Arena back the day.

Yeah. Was that the whole story? That was pretty much it. Okay. For some reason, I thought there was going to be more, too. No, that was a big story. We also have a new episode coming out Thursday, and it's on Michelle Hunley Smith. And this is a different type of T-CAT episode.

It's fascinating, though. Michelle Hunley Smith went missing in 2001. And then she was found just a couple of months ago. Yeah. 2006. And her family had no idea. And it turns out she was living, you know, a couple hours away. I'll be curious to see the comments on this one on our different social media pages.

Yeah, it is a different type of case. It's also kind of still unfolding. It is. So, you know, she's got some court dates coming up and things like that. But it's a fascinating episode. It really is. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I am. We're talking about Christina Sanjabane.

Christina Stanubane was stabbed to death days after leaving an abusive relationship and moving into a new home for a fresh start. Christina's ex-boyfriend was the first person question. But when he presented a verifiable alibi, authorities turned to alternate suspects. Christina San Yabane was born on November 21, 1979 in Des Moines, Iowa. She grew up in Cedar Rapids. Growing up, Christina told her mother that she didn't want to be a doctor or a lawyer, like they had hoped she wanted to be a journalist and work in the news industry.

In high school, Christina started hanging. out with people who did drugs, and she experimented with marijuana, meth, and cocaine. Hey, look, I mean, high school, some marijuana, maybe some speed, maybe, you know, some of that white powder might find your way back in my day, but. Boy, you are really telling on yourself right now. I'm just saying, you know, people that, you know, would have been around me at that time. I'm not saying I did. Okay.

But meth, you know, man, I think that's a whole other level. Yeah, I mean, we don't, I can only speak for myself. I don't have experience with meth, but from everything we've heard, learned, you know, a drug like meth, man, it can really grab you. I mean, we have a really good listener that got it, had a really big, big problem with meth. and, you know, he found his way out of it. And now he goes around, he helps people, you know, with addiction recovery. That's awesome because that's really the best people to do it because they've been there.

Yeah, yeah. They know how bad it is and they know what it's like. His stories that he tells is, oh, man. I can only imagine. So Christina's plans to become a journalist were put on hold when she got pregnant, her senior year of high school. She dropped out of school and moved in with her boyfriend. Jacob Crosson, her baby's father, she gave birth to a son named Corbyn.

And I did think it was, you know, just a little strange that, you know, growing up, she wanted to be a journalist. You know, a lot of kids, okay, doctor, lawyer, you hear that a lot. Yeah, astronaut. Fireman. Sure, firemen. Journalists, I don't know how many children think of that. I don't think a lot do.

I mean, I mean, mine was a little more rare. I mean, to be, to want to be a proctologist at such an early age. Yeah. And to practice as much as you did, I thought that was a little strange. I walked into that one. After leaving school, Christina worked as a telemarketer for several years. Her relationship with Jacob was not a happy one. Jacob was physically abusive.

Christina was often seen with bruises and was open about the fact that Jacob hit her. Christina's mother, Linda San Yubane, recalled asking her daughter why she wouldn't leave Jacob for good. Christina told her she couldn't because she loved him. Well, you know, we've heard this many, many times. You know, it's sad, but it's a fact that people stay in relationships that they probably shouldn't be in because they love the person that is hurting them. Yeah, we've heard that. We've also heard that the very idea of leaving is so dangerous.

That's true. That people are scared because of what they know their partner is capable. Christina was close with Sandy Smith, her supervisor at work. Sandy later testified that Christina came in with bruises or scratches, and she confided that Jacob beat her. A couple months before she died. Christina showed Sandy a four-inch cut on her arm and said Jacob did it.

Christina told Sandy she was trying to leave Jacob and make it on her own. So there's a couple of things here. Obviously, we're talking about violent domestic abuse, which we know is a major problem. But she was not secretly. about what Jacob was doing to her, her friends knew, her mother knew. Yeah.

I can put myself in that position of finding out from my daughter that this was going on. I'm telling you right now, the shit is going to hit the fan. It's going to be problematic, you know. I think what happens, though, let's say you find out that that was going on. and you go over and you have words with your son-in-law. Yeah. Maybe even rough him up, right? Is she going to be thankful?

Or now is she going to be like, or mad at you and then decides to break contact with you because she doesn't want to lose him because now he's pissed at you. That's a great point. Or does whatever I do come back to her in a negative way? Well, that's a... At his hands. Pretty reasonable possibility.

So I can sit here and say what I would do, but it might not be the right thing. Right. Wouldn't stop me from doing it, but... Right. I'm sure there, like a lot of things I do, there are probably better ways to handle it. I will agree. But it's such a major problem, right? We know it.

Everybody knows it. Domestic violence. Yeah. But it's also extremely... extremely nuanced and hard to stop. It's a tell that has been told so many times again and again. Jacob was arrested twice during their relationship. In 1999, he shot Christina in the face with a pellet gun.

He was convicted of assault and spent just three days in jail. See, to me, something like that, it should be longer. Three days in jail, all that is doing is pissing him off. and he knows he's going to be out in three days. But if you put him away for a year, that's going to give her time to get herself together and move on. Yeah, move on and maybe make him think about some of his decisions. Yeah, now it would be different if it was an accident,

a verifiable accident, right? And he had no history of domestic abuse. Right. But if they knew that and he only got three days, Okay, I got a big problem with that. Yeah, I mean, he could have took her eye out. Now, she may not have wanted to testify against him. Well, I'm sure she probably did.

And that could have been, you know, part of the problem. I don't know or part of the reason why he only got what he got. Christina kept a diary where she described her struggles and her desire to start a new life with her son. She wrote in one entry, he criticizes me. He puts me down and physically abuses me. After three years, I'm just starting to read. realize I was the only one in love. Man, what a great point.

Yeah, but it's heartbreaking. It is. And I think, you know, we talk about physical abuse, but oftentimes what comes with that is verbal, mental abuse as well. It a lot of times goes hand in hand. I mean, she's being attacked in all fronts. On August 31st, 2000, Christine and her son moved into a duplex. a few miles away from her old home in Cedar Rapids. The neighbor on the other side of the duplex was 29-year-old Carlos Robinson.

Carlos lived with his partner, Tamika Sanders. Some sources described Tamika as his fiancé, while others said she was his wife. They did have four children together. Carlos appeared to be a kind and helpful neighbor and even helped Christina's friend move heavy furniture into her apartment. Christina's father told the Cedar Rapids Gazette, he had misgivings about the duplex and invited Christina to move back in with them for a time. But she wanted her independence. And I can understand that. You know, a lot of people, once they've moved out, unless they absolutely have to, they really don't want to move back home. No, they like having that independence, right? They can do what they want. They don't have to worry about.

stepping on somebody else's toes, right? Especially when you're an adult, you're in your 20s, late 20s, maybe even early 30s. Who wants to have to go back home and live under at least some type of rules? Yeah. Because as cool as your parents might be, there's still going to be maybe some questionings. You know, why are you doing that? Why are you buying this? And those people just don't want to put up with that.

They don't have to. And there's the problem like you have with your daughter that you're, she's going out buying moose track ice cream and she comes home and you're sitting on the couch eating it right in front of her. It's like her moose track ice cream and you're eating it. It's a little upsetting. Actually, the very opposite happens. I buy something for me and one of them eats it.

Yeah. And not just eats like a little bit of it. once I go to get it, it is nowhere to be found. It's like we never ordered it because they've devoured it and they threw the curtain in the trash. At least they're not leaving that, just that one bite left in it. Yeah. I think that's even worse.

It is worse. Because now you're just teasing me. Yep. Four days after she moved on September 4th, 2000. Christina's friend Todd Hale stopped by the duplex. He was there to get the money she owed him for helping her move. Todd rang the doorbell, but Christina didn't answer. Todd returned several hours later.

The door was locked, but when Todd looked through the window, he saw Christina's two-year-old son alone and crying. He thought he heard the child say, Mommy's dead. Todd removed the screen from the window and climbed inside. He found Christina face down in a bathtub, full of bloody water. Todd rushed outside and asked, Christina's duplex neighbor Carlos Robinson to call 911. And you and I talk about in both T-CAT and unsolved, you know, instances where people find

individuals deceased. And I don't know that there's going to be any situation like that that is not going to be just absolutely completely shocking. What really got to me here, obviously, you have a lot. a young mother who's killed and that's horrible. But you also have this two-year-old little boy, her son, who either witnessed what happened or at the very least saw his mother in that condition and then is relaying it to this guy that my mommy's dead. That's heartbreaking. Oh, it is. It just hits me in the gut. Officers determine.

that Christina was stabbed to death. The attack started in the kitchen. Christina's sandals were in the middle of the floor. As if she was struck with so much force, she was knocked out of her shoes. There was a metal collar that might have gone on a frying panhandle on the floor. Three of Christina's teeth were also found on the floor. Wow, she was hit hard.

Yeah, this is a very vicious attack. You know, thinking about possibly being in. hit in the face with a frying pan. Yeah. With enough force that it would lift you out of your shoes and also knock out a bunch of your teeth. It's a grisly thought. It is.

No knife was found at the scene. It looked like the killer had tried to wash away some evidence. But there were still bloody bare footprints all over the bathroom floor into the kitchen and back. something highly unusual was found in the bathroom. There were several hamburger buns on the bathroom floor, as if someone had opened a bag and dumped them out. The bag was not found in Christina's apartment,

but the clip to the bag was found on the bathroom floor. It appeared the buns were opened in the bathroom, and the killer possibly wrapped the knife in the bag so that it would not drip blood. So I got to get this knife out of here. here. Let me grab this bag of hot dog or hamburger buns. I'll just dump them right here, put the knife in here, and that's how I'm going to get this out of here without it dripping. But it's a strange thing to find at a murder scene. It really is.

Hamburger buns, you know, strewn all over the floor. Now, I think their hypothesis is a good one that they were dumped out just so that the killer could use the bag. This combined with the bare footprint friends suggested the killer lived nearby and wrapped up the knife so that there wouldn't be a blood trip leading to their house. And that seems logical to me. There was no forced entry. Nothing was stolen, which all suggested that robbery was not demoted. During the autopsy, the medical examiner found evidence that Christina was sexually assaulted. Her throat was cut so deeply that her trachea was severed. I mean, it just gets worse and worse. It does.

When the details, you know, are fully revealed, there was no toxicology screening because the medical examiner couldn't get enough blood for testing. Wow. She bled out that much. Almost completely, I guess. The autopsy also noted the metal pellet still lodged in Christina's face from the time Jacob shot her.

They only got three days for. Yes. Yeah. So she had not. even gone to to a medical facility to have that checked out, to have it removed. So, I mean, as you can imagine, right, Jacob was the prime suspect. He had a motive because Christina had recently left him. And we've talked many, many times about this thought. And I think it's more than a thought. It's proven that, you know, one of the most dangerous times in these times, in these

toxic relationships and these abusive relationships is when, you know, the person being abused makes the decision that they're finally going to leave because that's when the abuser knows that they're going to lose the control they have and they become a even more dangerous person. It's typically when they start striking out. During questioning, Jacob claimed that on the night of the murder, he was 30 minutes. minutes from Christina's home, drinking with some friends. Two witnesses verified that he was with them. You know, sometimes you have to say, well, how close are these friends to him?

Yeah. But, you know, thinking that, okay, if it comes to it, they're going to get on the stand and testify to this. It's a fairly good alibi, right? I would say yes. Compared to some people who say, well, I was a home alone that night. I don't really have anybody who can vouch for me. The medical examiner put Christina's time of death between 9 p.m. on September 3rd and 3 a.m. on the 4th. Investigators noted that not all of Jacob's night could be accounted for.

I mean, that is a healthy window of time. It is. I mean, it's what, six hours? And so, you know, if he's drinking with these friends and, you know, let's say he was there from, I'm just going to throw something out eight to one. Well, there's still two hours in that scenario. Right. So while the alibi is good, it's not airtight if you can't account for all of your time.

The police also looked into Todd Hale, the friend who found Christina's body and her neighbor Carlos Robinson. The two men were familiar with each other because they had helped. Christina Moot. And, you know, as we said, right, the ex-boyfriend, he's always going to be looked at. And I think especially so when there's a history of domestic violence. Right. I think the person who finds the body also is always going to be looked at. I agree with you. At the very least, they have to be ruled out. It also makes sense that the neighbor in the duplex would be looked at. Yeah, because he was in her place.

Now, he was helping her move, but when you have no signs of forced entry, is he a person for whom Christina would have opened the door? And I think the answer is yes, right? Even though she hadn't lived there, this guy offered to help. She kind of knew him in a limited capacity. Investigators were suspicious of Todd's claim that he entered the. apartment by climbing through a small window without disturbing the items on the entertainment center that was set up just below the window. They brought Todd to the duplex and asked him to demonstrate he was able to climb through

the window without disturbing items on the entertainment center, even in his heavy workbook. You said, I'll show you. Let me do it. Yeah. I mean, you know, what better way to kind of clear up this issue? then to actually recreate it and prove that it can pretty easily be done exactly the way you said it happened. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like saying if the glove don't fit.

You must have quit? Yeah. I mean, you tell the guy, hey, show us how you got through that window because we don't believe you when he shows you. What are you going to chase now? You don't really have anything to go after. Yeah, the attorneys really, they made a bad miscalculation. in having him try the gloves on, no doubt about it.

Big time. Police brought Carlos Robinson in to give a statement. He was helpful and cooperative and said that he hadn't been back inside Christina's apartment since he helped her move on August 31st. And I know I've said it gives, but I'm fascinated by interviews, police interviews, and the tactics they use. Now, sometimes they go overboard. We've seen that in some cases.

you know, bringing these people in and even kind of asking them which you might think are benign questions, you're still locking them into things. You are. That if evidence later comes about that contradicts those statements, well, you've got them locked into some things. Once the interviews were complete, investigators focused on matching the footprints found at the crime scene, Jacob, Todd, and Carlos were asked to provide their footprints. Todd's were not a match. Jacobs were not a match either,

but Carlos Robinson was brought back in on September 5th, 2000. He wasn't treated it as a suspect when his interview began. He was told the interview was just a follow-up to see if he remembered anything else. And he was asked to provide samples of hair, footprints, palm prints, fingerprints, fingerprints, and a cheek swap. He complied, but he seemed more reluctant than Jacob or Todd had been. After dipping his feet in ink, he was instructed to walk down one side of a large piece of paper, turn and walk down the other side.

Instead of doing this, he walked over the footprints he had just made. Like, you're not going to be able to use these. When Carlos was left alone in the room to await the results, He got down on his knees and began praying which investigators thought was unusual. And it might be. It might not be. To me, what's unusual is being given very clear instructions. Right.

And deliberately ignoring those instructions and walking back over the footprints you just made, essentially rendering them useless. Or trying to render them. Yeah, trying to. I mean, how else can you? you look at that other than you're trying to not give police a real sample of your footprint. Yeah. Two hours later, police learned that Carlos's footprints match, the ones at the crime scene,

and his palm print was also a perfect match to the bloody palm print found on Christina's bathroom sink. Additionally, his DNA matched the DNA from the sexual. assault kit. And it goes back to me saying, you know, the police asked questions. Some of them might seem, you know, to not be that big a deal. But the one about him being in the apartment and he said, nope, I haven't been there since I helped her move in. Okay. You're really painting yourself into a corner when the footprints come back as matching yours. Yeah. The bloody Palmprint comes back is matching yours. And obviously we've got your DNA found inside the victim.

Yeah. Not good. Is that your expert opinion? Not good. If you were attorney, is that what you'd tell your client? It's not good. Not good. It's why you're paying me the big bucks, buddy. It's not good. We're in trouble. At that point, Carlos was given his Miranda warnings. He made a a shocking admission. He claimed that he and Christina had consensual sex on the night of September 3rd. He left the apartment, but at 9 p.m., he heard bumping coming from her apartment and went to investigate. He knocked as he entered, then knocked on the fridge and coffee table as he made his way through the apartment. No one responded. He saw Christina's son near the bathroom crying and saying mommy. He saw Christina's body lying on the floor by the bathtub, but not in the tub. He stepped on something and slipped and perhaps grabbed on the sink to catch his balance. He ran home without calling the police.

Carlos explained he was afraid that as a black man, he would be framed for murder. He insisted he wasn't the killer. And to me, this is the classic defendant tactical. Yeah. I painted myself into this corner with previous statements. Now the evidence comes out that is refuting these statements. I got to come up with something else. So now it is, yes, I was in the apartment. I had consensual sex. I walked through something slippery. I slipped, maybe, you know, grabbed onto something. You know, you're coming up with something or things to kind of explain every piece of

evidence. Trying to cover yourself. Yeah. I mean, it just seems like it's classic. We hear it in case after case. As we mentioned, the medical examiner believed Christina died between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. Carlos was home alone that night with his children. Because his wife was away visiting her sister,

she didn't get home until about 1.30 a.m. But investigators still felt they needed more evidence to prove Carlos was a killer and not just a scared neighbor. After all, on paper, Carlos didn't seem like the prime suspect. He was practically a stranger to Christina, but she had a history of violent abuse with her ex-boyfriend. And you know, we said it, right? He's going to be looked at heart.

And you have to believe police were really focused on him early on. And it would take a lot for them to veer away from him. Yeah. An ex-boyfriend, the two had recently broken up. There's this history of domestic abuse, domestic violence. How could it not be him? But now they have a reason to shift away. Yeah. I mean, Carlos does not look good, as you said, right? Things are not looking good for him.

It is not. In your expert opinion. The fact that you charge $300 an hour for that as an attorney blows my mind. That's my friends and family discount, too. This is not good for you. This is not good for you. If you say it twice, that's $600. That's right. I got a double billion now, buddy. investigators analyzing the crime scene evidence found something on the discarded hamburger buns one of the buns was misshaping further analysis showed the indentation of a right toe the second and third toe and the ball of the foot there were even ridges in the bread they resembled prints that was some uh soft bread yeah i don't yeah um so you know what are we all we're almost on episode 500. Right. Of TCAT. We've done almost that many on unsolved. Every case, there's something we've never heard of.

Exactly. And this is one of them. Never heard of footprints being found in a hamburger bun. We got them because we have the prints on the hamburger bun. Book them. Well, if these prints matched Carlos, it could prove he was the killer and had disposed of the buns to use the plastic back. to wrap up the murder weapon and transport it back to his house.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Crime Lass analyzed the bread and confirmed it was a footprint. And that footprint matched Carlos Robinson. He was arrested in charge with murder on September 5, 2000. And we've been talking a lot lately about circumstantial evidence. You know, even without this hamburger bun, could they have moved forward? Yeah, I think they probably could have. But does this help seal it? I think it does go a long way.

Yeah. It's not going to hurt the case. No. I mean, he tried to give an explanation for some of the other things. But then now, how are you going to explain your footprint in the hamburger bun? has he never said that he was in the bathroom. Right. He said he was outside of the bathroom.

He saw the sun. He saw her outside the tub. To see her inside the tub, he would have had to have been a lot closer. Yeah. And maybe that's why he said that. I mean, you know, thank goodness they were hamburger buns

and not like pita or toastitos because, you know, probably wouldn't have held a print like the bun did. Tostitos as in tortilla chips? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Yeah, I don't think those hold prints very well. I don't know about pita, but I'm pretty sure hard tortilla chips don't do well with prints. I don't mean hard.

I mean the. Well, Tostitos are crunchy. Well, okay, I'm at. Tortilla? Exactly what I was trying to say. Okay. Yeah. I got you.

Yeah. Police searched Carlos's apartment and sees two t-shirts, two washcloths, one with a red, stain, four knives, and a broken pan and handle. I mean, not the smartest guy, right? Not if these knives were involved. Not if this is the pan used to hit Christina. And obviously, if the t-shirts or the washcloths, if the red stains turned out to be her blood, no, not smart.

Investigators believed Christina, a trusting person, let Carlos into her home because she'd already met him. Once inside, he made a sexual advance that she rejected. He hit her with a frying pan, hard enough to knock out her teeth. He dragged her to the bathroom, assaulted her, and stabbed her to death. He filled the tub with water to try to wash away evidence. But he left behind his palm print and his footprints. After he fled to house, Christina's son was left alone for up to 24 hours. I mean, think about this guy, trying to be like the nice neighbor, you know, back on his house, his side of the duplex.

He's got a wife and four kids, but he wants to come over here, assault her sexually as well, ends up killing her. And then he has the nerve on top of all that to walk past this young. child knowing that that child is going to be locked up inside that home for who knows how long with his dead mom in the bathroom. And to me, it's not a coincidence that this happened while his wife was away. Yeah. After the arrest was announced, Christina's uncle told the Gazette that she likely trusted Carlos because he was a married man.

She had mentioned that the new neighbor had a wife and kids. Neighbors told the Gazette that Carlos Robinson was a family man who was often seen outside playing with his children. He and his wife were well liked by their neighbors. And I can see how maybe that would make her a little bit more trusting. Right. She's seen him outside. He's playing with his kids. His wife's there.

He just seems like a good guy. Right. gentle with his kids. She's thinking, he's a nice guy. Yeah. I mean, he's not the lone stranger that you worry about, or that most people worry about. They had been in Cedar Rapids for about a year. Carlos previously worked at a convenience store,

but had recently started training for a telecommunications company. Neighbor, Rich Rofler pointed out that Carlos never showed any anger, even when he and his family were subjected to racist remarks by former neighbors. The Gazette reported that Carlos and his partner, Tamika Sanders, were together for 11 years. Carlos pleaded guilty to assault. In a May 1993 domestic abuse incident, court documents stated that his fiance told police he pushed her into a door, causing her to hit her head. He was put on self-probation for one year. I always wonder how

as self probation works. Hey, self, you're going to be on probation? Yeah, self probation is not a term that I don't think I've heard or seen a lot, but I get it. You're not tethered, right? You don't have a, an ankle monitor. And maybe you don't have to check in with a probation officer, but you're just on probation. So I guess if you do anything, you could receive charges for that in addition to whatever else. you do. Kind of like on the honor system. Kind of. Got to call yourself in. Or basically just saying be good or else. Yeah. Now you can argue what we argue a lot, which is, okay, what is this telling the person

who has been abusive? And to me, it's that it's not that serious. If I do get caught, they're just going to give me a slap on the wrist. Exactly. And so you're really not making it much of a deterrent. Carlos's father, Timothy Robinson, Sr., said it was a complete shot when Carlos was arrested. Carlos's mother, Pam Robinson, told the Gazette, our son is not the monster. He is still walking around out there somewhere. And I get that, right? It would be shocking if this person you brought into the world, you helped race, committed such a violent crime. And I I don't think it's that unusual for moms, dads, to just not be able to believe that their son or daughter would ever be able to do something so heinous. I think you're going to be in denial, right?

Because that's not my son. My son doesn't do things like that. After several delays, jury selection for Robinson's murder trial started on November 26, 2001. In opening statements, prosecutors. described the grisly scene. Todd Hale found when he entered Christina's apartment on September 4th, 2000. Christina had been struck with a blunt object, then taken into the bathroom. Her throat was cut and she bled to death.

Her face-down position suggested sexual assault. Carlos Robinson left a trail of evidence, including his footprints found in the house, and on the hamburger bun he discarded in the bathroom. bathroom. Prosecutors argued that Carlos was worried his wife would in their marriage if she found out he made an advance towards Christina, so he killed her. The defense acknowledged that Carlos had sex with Christina, but it was consensual and happened after they smoked marijuana together. Carlos didn't tell police about the sexual encounter because he was, quote, stepping out on Tamika Sanders, and he didn't want to admit it.

They said that his footprints were in the apartment because he helped Christina move three days earlier. They were in blood because he returned to Christina's apartment to investigate suspicious noises. The defense argued that police did not fully explore other possible suspects, including Jacob Crozen. Three people, including Carlos's fiancé Tamika, testified that. They heard Christina's son crying.

On Monday, September 4th, Tamika testified that Corbyn was still crying when Todd Hale came to the house to collect a $25 debt from Christina. Todd climbed into the apartment through a window and found Corbyn. The jury heard Carlos' 911 call where he told the operator,

I'd like to report a debt. The guy said she was dead. She does drugs. And to me, it's that the third, part of that statement. That seems strange. You have a woman found dead in her apartment and you feel the need to add on to the end of it. She does drugs.

Right. Like, hey, this is Avenue. You need to look down instead of looking at... Me? Yeah. Yeah. I just thought that was weird. Todd Hale testified that he helped Christina move on August 31st and returned on the fourth

to collect the $25. She owed him. He made two trips to her apartment to collect his money. I still think it's strange that people heard Corbyn crying, but nobody really did anything. If he was crying that much, I don't know. Wouldn't you go check on that if you were living next door? Yeah, I don't know. Is it similar to the gunshot kind of theory that we talk about? You know, little kids cry. If you're in a duplex, you're probably hearing it a lot more than, And you would if you were in separate houses, right, an apartment, a duplex, you're sharing walls. Right.

So maybe you're going to hear it a little bit more. Tamika said she heard it on the day that Christina was found. So, yeah, I don't know what you make of it. So Todd, you know, he's saying he made two trips the first time at 1130 a.m. He saw Corbyn crying. The TV was playing loudly. and he noticed crumpled blankets on the bed. He thought Christina might still be asleep and left.

He returned at 6 p.m. because he was worried about Christina and her son. And he wanted his $25. There was no blankets on the bed. And Corbyn was screaming, so he climbed inside and found the body. Todd testified that Carlos helped him move four large pieces of furniture into the duplex, and he wasn't wearing any shoes. at the time. He also testified that he didn't tell police that Carlos offered drugs to him and Christina, but he made that statement in a deposition months after the murder. Carlos Robinson got

on the stand and apologized for not calling 911 after finding Christina's body on the bathroom floor, but he maintained that he had nothing to do with her death and her throat was not cut and she was not in the tub when he saw her. And to me, this is such a strange. thing. You know, again, he has to try to explain away some of the evidence. But, you know, for you to believe this, Gibbs, you have to then believe that someone later comes in, puts Christina's body in the tub and cuts her throat. Hard sale. It really is. Now, Carlos admitted that he changed his story when confronted with the footprint evidence and he didn't tell the whole story until confronted with DNA evidence, which, you know,

I, you know, you say admitted, but to me, that's just changing your story to fit the evidence. Yep, exactly. He testified that he went to Christina's apartment shortly after 8 p.m. on the third while Tamika was out visiting her sister. They smoked marijuana, flirted, and had consent. sexual sex twice on the kitchen floor. Not once. Twice.

Twice. I just want the jury to know what a manly man I am. Exactly. I guess. During the second sexual encounter, he heard a male voice coming through the front door. He jumped up, grabbed his clothes, and in his words, I just got the hell out of there. Carlos returned to his apartment shortly after 9 p.m. His kids were watching TV.

When they went downstairs to get water, he heard thump. and thought they were playing. But when he went down to check, he found that they weren't playing. He rode his bike to a convenience store to buy some beer for himself and candy for the kids. He was gone for about 15 minutes.

He talked to his wife by phone around 10 p.m. He told her about the noises coming from Christina's apartment, and she told him to check on her. He settled his kids and went over. He knocked on the door and called out, hello as he entered. He knocked on furniture as he made his way through the apartment. The only light in the apartment came from the moon and a street light in the alley. He heard Christina's son, but he wasn't crying at the time. He walked into the bathroom

and saw Christine on the floor parallel to the bathtub. A dark substance was coming from her mouth. It wasn't gushing out. It looked more like drool. Right? This is what he said on the stand. Christina twitched as if she was shivering. He knelt down to examine her. When he got up, he slipped in a dark substance on the floor and grabbed the sink to steady himself. He wiped his bare feet on a small rug in the kitchen on his way out. When he got back to his apartment between 10.30 and 11 p.m. He checked on his kids, smoked more marijuana, drank a beer.

He didn't want to call 911 because he didn't want Tamika to find out he had sex. with Christina. Well, why not go down to a pay phone and maybe do a... An anonymous call? Yeah. Yeah. I get that. I also thought it was interesting that Tamika was the one who told him to go check on Christina.

And that is probably true. But most likely it's because of how much he's playing up these noises. right that he's hearing from over in her place so he's relaying this to tamika he's probably hyping it up and then obviously as anybody would be she's concerned and she says hey you should go over there and check it out check on them but it's almost like he is he's setting all that up right i also thought i don't know maybe it's just me but it's very strange to hear that you know he goes over to check on her, finds her in this state that obviously is not good. And he goes home, smoke some weed, and drinks another beer. Yeah. Just chilling, knowing that there's a young child

alone in the dark with his mother laying on the floor. Yeah, and I'm very dubious that at that point, the child wouldn't be crying. You know, a child seeing their mother like that and he's saying, well, the child wasn't crying at that point. Seems so odd. Yeah, it does. Carlos testified that he refused to sign a statement at his second interview because officers wanted him to say the body was in the tub, but he didn't find it that way. He testified that he didn't know whether Christina was dead or alive when he left her, saying,

I had no idea what was going on in there. I didn't want to stick around and see. And I understand that if you're cheating on your. fiance or your wife or your girlfriend, you don't want her to find out. But even if you had nothing to do with someone's death, how could you just leave them like that? Yeah, I mean, there's a point when you have to put someone's life over the consequences that might come about for your actions. Let's face it, you did it. Exactly. If that's the way it happened, we don't believe that, but according to his story.

But again, that's why I find, you know, the, the stories that these people tell so compelling. First of all, they change so much that it's hard to believe anything, they say. But even it seems like every step of the way with every change, they don't make sense. They really don't. On December 12th, 2001, Carlos Robinson was found guilty of first-degree murder. On April 12, 2002, he was sentenced to life in prison. He said it sentencing is quoted by the Gazette, I did not commit this crime.

I know it. My family knows it. Part of me knows that the San Yubain family knows I didn't do it. Justice for me will be finding the real person who committed this ungodly crime. It's also, to me, pretty presumptuous to speak for the family of the victim. Well, that's true. Well, that's true. the family knows I didn't do it. Really? I'm sure the family would have an argument against that

statement. Carlos has since appealed his conviction. In 2012, he filed an appeal seeking new DNA testing. According to Robinson v. State, Christina's vaginal swab showed the presence of DNA from a minor contributor who was not identified. Robinson argued that the evidence suggested Christina had sex, with an unidentified person within a few days of the murder. And that testing of items in storage could exclude him or identify the killer. So what's he saying, Gibbs? Yeah, I had sex with her that night multiple times. It was all consensual.

Yeah. But she most likely had sex with somebody else. Let's say a few days prior, that guy's probably the killer. Yeah. That guy probably did this. Robinson filed a motion to order the Iowa Department of Public Safety to provide the DNA of individual A, a felon on probation, whose terms required him to give a DNA sample to the DOC. His 2017 appeal was rejected, and in 2021, the Court of Appeals of Iowa affirmed the denial of his application. So as we wrap this one up, I mean, obviously.

it is possible that he'll continue to try and appeal or to seek testing to somehow cast doubt on his conviction. I just don't know how it would, though. I mean, yeah, you might eventually be able to identify this minor contributor. Yeah. But I don't see how that alone is going to point away from Carlos being the killer. I mean, is there a possibility? Just saying, Carlos is being truthful.

Hey, I went over there. We had sex together. I left. I heard this thump noise. And then you'd have to say, okay, well, what was that thump noise? Could it have been this person A? Who comes in and actually kills Christina?

Because they're upset because they're seeing that she just, had sex with somebody else, and they beat her with the frying pan, and then drag her into the bathroom and stab her and then leave. I mean, it could happen. But then how does he come back over, and she's not in the bathroom? I mean, the bathtub. She's in the bathroom, but she's not in the bathtub. She's not stabbed. Her throat is not cut. His story just doesn't line. His story just doesn't line. up to me with with some of the other possibilities. I don't see any other possibility.

Right. The way that he's kind of painted himself initially into what he did. And then later on tried to paint himself out of some of those things with conflicting statements. But the conflicting statements paint him into other things. Exactly. Right. So you just keep.

locking yourself into stuff. And it's different things because you're changing your story. But it doesn't answer all the questions. And it just doesn't seem to make sense to me. So is it more likely that, yeah, she could have had a sexual encounter with somebody days before. And that person had nothing to do with what happened. To me, that's way more likely.

Right. It would also explain why that, that person seaman is labeled as a minor contributor. Exactly. And the major contributor is obviously Carlos Robinson. Yeah. I mean, can you say that different things are possible? Yeah, you can say that, but are they likely or even close to being likely?

And from my point of view, no, not really. Yeah, I agree with you. And to me, they don't rise to that level. that would cast reasonable doubts if I was on the jury. Now, we may not have all the evidence, but based on what we do know and what we went through, I would have had a hard time not finding this guy guilty. And obviously,

the jury felt the same way. Yeah. But that's it for our episode on Christina Sanjabane. We got a voicemail Gibbs. You want to check that out? Let's hear it. Hey, my name is Steve Wenshaw. I'm calling from.

Queensburg in New York. I am a long-time listener and a first-time caller. I want to thank you guys, because you did a phenomenal job for me during COVID. I was working in a small upstate New York Hospital and a histology lab, and I wound up working the place all by myself. So it was just me and you guys keeping me from losing my mind. So thank you very much for that. Now, what I enjoy about your podcast is the camaraderie and how you play off one another and your strengths and weaknesses and all that stuff. But that being said, I do identify with Gibby to some extent because, Christy, Nate,

I want me a bloody good Australian accent as well. I think Gibby now could be drinking night someday. All right, I'm done embarrassing myself with that. Okay, I got a couple of cases for you. It might be interested. One is a guy by name of Kevin Jenks, who was murdered in Queensberry, New York, and the other case is Colin.

and Gillis from Tupper Lake, New York. Now, we don't know if he's been murdered, but he's missing. So I don't know if that's up your belly wick or not, but I probably throw that out there. All right. So before I embarrass myself even more, all right, keep your head on a swivel, keep your own time ticking, watch your six, and don't want to eat yellow snow, mate. Have a good day, guys. All right. Appreciate the voicemail.

I can see why, you know, he does have a fondness for you. his Australian accent is about as bad as yours. Not his was a little better, but. What do you want to say, Mike? It wasn't great. Wait, wait, what do you mean? He said, don't eat yellow snow. Yeah.

I know you eat it all the time. It's like frozen lemonade. It is. I mean. Oh, that's what I told you it was. Yeah. I'm confused. But it does seem like he's giving us possibly one for T-Cat and one for unsolved.

Yeah, I love that, man. I love that. We can have an all-Queenberry week. Queens, buddy. If we find enough information. But we'll definitely check them out. We will. Thank you.

All right, buddy, that is it for another episode of True Crime all the time. So for Mike and Gibby, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.