True Crime All The Time - Robert Chae

Episode Date: May 4, 2026

Robert Chae was a successful Philadelphia businessman who was murdered during a home invasion. The brutality of the crime left his close-knit community on edge as investigators worked to identify multiple suspects. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss the murder of Robert Chae. Investigators had to use every tool at their disposal to identify suspects. Once they got someone to crack, that person turned on everyone else involved. In the end, it turned out that the mastermind of the entire operation was someone very close to the Chaes, a person no one would have suspected.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.

You know, folks, making that decision to start a podcast or really any type of business, it's scary. It was for Gibby and I as well. What if no one listens? What if we make fools of ourselves? And it can be really hard to get over that doubt. But choosing to make that leap was one of the best decisions we've ever made. Another great decision was picking Shopify to help with our podcast merch.

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It's time to turn those what-ifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash T-Cat. Go to Shopify.com slash T-Cat. That's Shopify.com slash T-C-C-A-T-T. Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 494 of the True Crime All-D. Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And with me as always is my partner in true crime, Mike Gibson, give me, how are you? I'm doing okay, man. How about you? I'm doing great. Having a good week, although, you know, I normally have a good week. Yeah, you are a good week kind of type of guy.

I kind of like my life, to be honest with you. Yeah. You got a good life, you know, good family, good kids, which is part of your family. So I am blessed. I am blessed. Yeah. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Natasha Jones. What's going on, Natasha? Tony Mathis. Hey, that's like the Kung Fu praying mantis. Okay. It's Mathis, but if you want to say mantis, you can.

Well, that's the short version of that before they changed it. Yeah. Yana. Hey, Yana. Don Birch. What's going on, Dawn? Lulu. Hey, Lou, thank you.

Justine. What's going on, Justine? Brianna, Michelle. Well, thanks, Priana. Suzanne Jackson. There it is, Jackson. Dana Stark. Hey, Dana Stark. I feel like that's like related to some Stark industries. You think she's part of a fictional, multi-billionaire family? Do you think it's fictional? Yeah, I believe it is. So if we go back into the vault. This week, we selected Stephanie Gulen.

Oh, thanks, Stephanie. appreciate all the Patreon support that we get. Gives, we have an episode out right now on True Crime all the time unsolved where we're talking about Cecilia Devon. She went missing from Newcastle, New South Wales in September 2018. Her remains were found six months later in a dam near Katumba, which was quite a bit of ways from her home. So we'll get into all the details. That's out now. Check it out. And then on Thursday's T-Cat. We talk about 18-year-old Brittany Gargall, who was found dead on the side of the road in Saskatoon, Canada in March 2015. And this is a fascinating case because police used social media

to solve her murder and they really focused in on a selfie taken with her friend on the night she died. Yeah, it was an interesting case. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time. I am. We are discussing Robert Che. Robert Che was a successful Philadelphia businessman who was murdered during a home invasion. The brutality of the crime left his close-knit community on edge as investigators worked to identify multiple suspects. Robert Che was born on March 10th, 1950. He grew up in South Korea. He came from a low-income family and he wanted to move to the United States to pursue the American dream. That's awesome. Yeah, I mean, so many people want that, have done that, and many have been very successful. He was married to Janice Che. They had two children,

Richard and Minna, who were adults at the time of his death. The family settled in the Philadelphia area. In 1989, Robert and his family moved to North Wales, which is, a suburb of Philadelphia. And we talked about it on Patreon, but I've never been to Philadelphia. And I'm ashamed to say that. Well, you need to go and get yourself some of that good Philadelphia food. Yeah. I would go just for the history. Yeah. I'm a history buff. And that, that would be, uh, that would be great. So Robert owned his own business for 25 years. In 1994, he was one of the first to open a Korean beauty supply store in Philadelphia. Before that, he owned a cafe in the same location.

The restaurant industry was tiring, and he wanted something that was a little bit slower-paced. Robert still went to work every day to sort inventory. And think about it. Korean beauty products are like big time now. If you're into like skin care and stuff, I guess the Korean beauty products are the ones to have. Okay. Did not know that. So as you can tell, I'm not into skin care at all.

Probably should be. Maybe. A little bit more than I am. But I can understand, you know, like a cafe, a restaurant. Man, that that would be, I think, a lot of hard work. I mean, any business is hard work. But you think of like the food service industry, I mean, it's go, go, go.

I could see how that would be very tiring. It would be tough for you to have something like that because I think you would eat the profits. I would. So there'd be no profit. Yeah. Robert and Janice left their home at 5 a.m. to drive into the city.

Robert worked long hours to provide for his family. And he was known for hiring people experiencing homelessness. It was like a good guy. Yeah, sounds like a guy who really wants to help people out when they're having a hard time. Robert was one of the most successful individuals in the Korean beauty supply business in that area from 2005 to 2007. He was president of the Pennsylvania Korean Beauty Supply Association. He more than tripled membership and began a program of awarding college scholarships to the sons and daughters of customers. So, I mean, it was said, Gibbs in every article by everyone that Robert was well liked.

He was highly respected by everyone who knew him. He had no known enemies. And we hear that a lot on some of these cases, right? Which you have to imagine can make it a little tougher for police, right? In trying to solve someone's murder. be easier when a person has one like mortal enemy or a couple of people who really dislike them and would want to see them dead. Yeah, you know, he was known to be a real asshole and he did this and that to these people.

And, you know, at that point, the police could, you know, focus in on that. Yeah. But they, but with a person who has no known enemies, I mean, who do you start to focus in on? on January 9th, 2009, Robert and Janice were up early and out the door at 5 a.m. to go to work as they always did. Man, 5 a.m. I have barely hit my rim cycle. I just climbed into bed about an hour or two. I was going to say, you just get started.

Yeah. 5 a.m. is early. Now, I did have a job one time where I had to be at work at 4 a.m., but that was a long time ago. Yeah. No, thank you. That was my younger days. As soon as Robert opened the garage door to go to his car, he was attacked by three gunmen. While Robert was tied up and badly beaten, Janice and Richard and Minna, who were sleeping in their rooms,

were forced down to the basement and bound. I mean, this is a nightmarish situation. And we talked about Robert wanting to take care of his family, as most husbands, fathers do. Well, okay, part of that is financially. You want to be able to provide, but you also want to ensure that your family is safe. Yeah. And this is a situation where he's not going to have control over that. This is a really scary situation.

The robbers demanded that Janus tell them where the money was. One of the robbers watched Richard and Minna, while Janus led the other two to a safe and opened it for them. They took cash in other valuable items. And I don't know how you don't do that in that situation. I mean, it's the same thing they tell like, you know, bank tellers or convenience store workers, just give them whatever they want, right? Money's replaceable. Your life is not.

Right. Just go with the flow. And I think for Janice, that decision had to be very easy because her son and daughter are there. She has to try to protect them. and at this point she probably has no idea what's going on with Robert. Janice was soon able to escape out the basement door. She ran to her neighbor Pam Lambert's house, ringing the doorbell frantically.

When Pam answered, Janice said, call 911. Call 911. My husband, my husband, three men. When the robbers discovered Janice was gone, they also fled through the basement door and drove off in a dark colored SUV. The police arrived minutes later, but the suspects were gone. So I think we have to break this down a little bit.

You know, this is, I think, a very tough decision for someone in Janice's position. Number one, you want to get away so that you can call for help to try to save your family. But on the flip side, Gibbs, you're leaving your kids and your husband there while you escape. I mean, it's a risk, but I think if you feel like you can get away and get to a phone or to somebody that can make a call, that's the way to go because you don't know what their intentions are. After they got that money, what were they going to do with you and the kids? Right. It may be the only way to save anybody. Richard and Minna were alive and still bound with duct tape, but Robert was dead.

His hands were zip tied behind his back. His head had been wrapped in tape, leaving only his nose exposed. Robert's head was wrapped so many times. It looked like the killers used an entire roll of duct tape, according to one detective. I guess they want to make sure it was all wrapped up. Well, anybody that's had a big role of duct tape, there is quite a bit on a role. There is. So let's assume that it was a new role.

you are wrapping that around somebody's face quite a few times to use up that whole thing. Robert was so badly beaten that authorities thought that he'd been stabbed. But it was determined that Robert died of asphyxiation from his own blood, clotting blood from his broken nose, sealed the small hole through which he had been breathing. Wow. Suffocated. Well, and I said this was a very, brutal attack.

He was beaten so badly that investigators thought he'd been stabbed. You just got to let that sink in. Janice described how the three unmasked robbers attacked Robert and forced their way inside. One man beat Robert

and held him in the garage. The others forced her into the house and demanded access to the safe. Investigators determined that the robbers left with $20,000 in cash. jewelry and purses. Investigators wondered why the robbers expose their faces and how they knew the family had a sick.

And this for me goes back to, you know, if you're Janus, do you make the decision that if you can, you bolt out of that door? To me, the fact that these people weren't wearing masks would make me think that I could do whatever I have to do because how can they? leave us all alive when they're not covering their faces. Yeah, they don't, because they're not going to want to leave any eyewitnesses. No, it's almost like, did they not cover their faces because they weren't expecting to leave any witnesses a lot. Police immediately suspected the robbers had been casing the house

and waiting in the driveway because they knew what time Robert and Janice left for work. It was highly unlikely for three robbers to be lurking around a piece of, peaceful suburban neighborhood at exactly the moment his garage door opened. A garbage collector soon reported seeing an SUV with three people circling the blocks days before the murder. And I think that's a good observation, right? What are the chances that you've got a roving gang of robbers just kind of going around and then all of a sudden they see this garage door open and they see it as an opportunity?

I mean, that's so unlikely. It's like they knew what time that garage door was going to open. They knew what time Robert and Janice left the house. They knew a lot about this family, including the fact that they had a safe with a lot of cash and valuables. I mean, they felt pretty confident about it. So I think if you're the police knowing all that, it has to inform the direction that you take. Right. These people either knew the family, knew someone in the family, or were given information by someone who knew the family. This was not a complete stranger robbery slash murder. Yeah. They got information somehow.

According to Delaware County assistant DA Pearl Kim, Robert was killed at a time when hate crimes against Asian Americans were increasingly hot. Asian business owners were targeted because it was thought they were more likely to carry cash or have cash in their home and also less likely to call the police. Chime is fee-free banking built for you. They are not like the stuffy traditional old banks. Charging you overdraft and monthly fees. Chime does things differently. They also have thousands of fee-free ATMs. Why in the world would you pay to get your own money?

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My pay, spot me, and travel perks, go to chime.com slash disclosures. Optional products and services may have fees or charging. Janice recalled the intruders were talking to each other on their phones. From different floors of the house, detectives analyzed phone records in the area, and a sketch artist created composites of the suspect's faces. After the murder, Janice, Richard, and Minner stayed with Robert's sister, her husband, and Robert's nephew, 25-year-old Angelo Schen.

Angelo spent a year living with the chase. After he moved to the U.S., he eventually moved out, but remained in North Wales. Recently, he had fallen in with a bad crowd. Okay. Again, if you're the police, it has to peak your interest. It has to. I agree. Here's a guy related to the family, but also lived with them for a bad.

about a year, meaning he knew their habits. He most likely knew they had the save. He would have had quite a bit of information. And maybe he knew that they kept a substantial amount of money in that safe. Investigators got a break in the case when they identified three numbers, linked to burner phones that were in regular communication around the time of the murder. One of those numbers belonged to Angelo Shin. When Angelo was called him for questioning, he appeared devastated, and he immediately came clean. Angelo revealed that he had recently befriended 24-year-old Joseph Page, a Philadelphia local. He tried to impress Page by telling him he knew where they could find $100,000.

He believed his uncle kept the cash in his sake. It's a weird way to try to impress your friend, right? Or this guy you want to be your friend. But is it? if these people are in what was described as kind of the bad crowd or however you want to say it, it probably means they're doing some illegal stuff already. Maybe they're into drugs. Maybe they're looking for money.

So he's like, hey, I know where we can get our hands on some money. Yeah, but once you open that door, you know that they're going to want to go down that route. It's not like, yeah, it's only $100,000. We're not going to mess with it, man. And it's your uncle. We don't want to do that to him. Well, Angelo tried to tell the police that he wasn't real serious, right, about the robbery, but it was too late because Paige had already told five of his friends about it.

25-year-old Amatadi Latham, 33-year-old Robert Eatman, 18-year-old Caray Pitts, 32-year-old Julius Wise, and 17-year-old Sybil White. The idea was that three would go in the... inside the house. While the others would act as lookouts and getaway drivers, everyone would split the money. That's a lot of people for a for a job. It is, but $100,000 is a lot of money. Let's say everybody's getting 20 or 15 or whatever it is. That is a boatload of money to many, many people. For a short amount of work. I get it. In and out kind of quick. And let's not forget, they have the inside knowledge.

Well, that's true. So he's feeding them this knowledge that, hey, they leave at five in the morning, be easy, tie him up, go in. My thought is they weren't planning on killing anybody. Let's just say that. So to your point, kind of in and out, tie people up, I'm not excusing it. I'm not saying it's a good thing. But from their way of thinking, 20 grand or 15.

grand for what 30 minutes an hour max yeah good money for criminals that's hard to pass up yeah angelo identified pits and joseph page from police photos and said they were with him at a planning session can we also talk about how this guy like literally caved immediately no backbone i mean i'm glad he caved yeah but i just wonder if he thought that by laying it at the feet of all these other people, it was going to somehow absolve him. I think he thought it was going to help him somehow, but I don't know how he would think he would be let off the hook.

Yeah, because when somebody dies in the commission of a crime, and you were involved. Yeah. You helped plan it. There's going to be some serious repercussions for you. And I doubt his family is going to want anything to do with them after that. Oh, that's a great point. Now, maybe he thought that he would get the sweetheart deal, right?

If he was the first one to cave and kind of roll over on the other individuals and testify against them. That's always possible. He said that no one was supposed to get hurt. Angelo maintained that he did not participate in the actual robber. When Angelo asked Page why he killed Robert, Paige suggested it was Robert's fault for fighting back. You want to talk about the ultimate victim blaming. Man, some nerve there.

It was his fault for fighting back. No, it was your fault for taping him up with a thousand yards of duct tape so that he couldn't breathe. On February 4th, 2009, Angelo, Shen, and five others were charged with murder. Prosecutors revealed that Angelo helped plan the robbery, which Page and the others then carried out. Montgomery County prosecutor Riza Vetteri Furman said at a press conference, Angelo is a traitor to his family, his people, his treachery is the lowest kind ever seen. He got $2,000 to betray his family. Man, that's really sad.

It really is that he did all this. for $2,000. Yeah. Now, I get it. He didn't think anybody was going to be killed. I understand that part. And he thought there was going to be more money in the safe. That's true.

He was telling everybody there was 100. It turned out there wasn't anywhere near that much in there. But still, 2,000, 15,000 to betray your own family? Ah. Not worth it. We've seen people kill for a lot. less than that, but it's still hard to believe. According to a report by the Philadelphia Inquirer, after the robbery, Paige called Angela

to complain about not getting enough money. And it was hours later that Paige gave Angelo $2,000 for his participation. When he asked why his uncle had been killed, Paige said he had been screaming and kicking, so they had to hurt him a little bit. Well, they did more than just hurt him a little bit. Yeah, that's for sure. Police also learned of Angelo's involvement, not just through cell phone records, but also because an informant told them, Caray Pitts had been overheard talking about a two-car seven-person robbery crew. And that was my other thought, Gibbs. How in the world did these people think that five, six, seven people being involved, nothing was going to get leaked? That's a lot of people. involved in a in a job yeah it was also reported that robert eatman told detectives he was the lookout

and that amatadi latem called him from inside the house to say that joseph page went crazy he kept hitting and hitting robert che so they had angelo and three others and all four of them were reigned, but Page and Pitts remained at large. All but Angelo were charged with second-degree murder. Angelo was charged with third-degree murder. Pits turned himself in the following day. On February 19, 2009, U.S. Marshals found Joseph Page in a woman's apartment near Wakefield Park in the Logan neighborhood of Philadelphia. He showed them a fake ID with the name James Mears. But his next tattoo and fingerprints gave him away. Yes, he thought he was going to be sneaky. And this is why I always say, you know, you got to watch out for those neck and face tattoos.

Even if Mike Tyson wasn't famous, do you know how easy it would be to describe him because of that crazy tattoo he has around his eyes and his face? That's true. Yeah, yeah. You can't hide that kind of stuff. Well, it's hard. I guess you could wear a ski mask or something like that. But they weren't even wearing masks. So obviously they weren't trying to cover up their necks or their tattoos at all. I just wonder if Janice didn't get out of there. What would have really happened? Yeah, again, I go back to planning the robbery and planning to take all of these people hostage.

Or, you know, at least bind them. But make the conscious decision not to cover. cover your face. To me, that screams that there were plans not to leave anyone a lot. Now, it doesn't necessarily absolutely mean that, but I know I would be thinking that if I was in that position, hey, I got to do whatever I can because these people decided not to wear masks for a reason. And maybe they went into this thinking they weren't going to kill anybody, but once he died. They could have changed their way of thinking.

Yeah, because I think, I hate to say it, but you almost kind of have to because now you just murdered somebody and people have seen your face, right? She's seeing their face. Yeah. Yeah, I could understand that too how maybe their way of thinking

could have changed after, you know, Robert dying. At the preliminary hearing, Richard Che testified that on the morning of January 9, He was shaken awake by two men, one of whom pistol whipped him. He was dragged from his bedroom into the basement where three men bound him with duct tape. They wanted money from the sake. The family agreed, but it seemed that they weren't satisfied and that they thought that we had more.

Well, yeah, they thought that because Angelo Shin told them there would be at least $100,000. That's right. Richard and Janus freed themselves from their restraints while the men were up. looking for more money. She ran outside and he ran upstairs and barred himself in his bedroom, then called 911. And I get it, Gibbs. This would be a very chaotic, you know, situation. You're trying to get free, but it did seem like kind of mom and son left the daughter slash sister kind of there by yourself. It kind of sounds like it. It also sounds like these weren't the best robbers.

Well, no, obviously they didn't do a very good job of restraining these people. They were able to get out pretty easily. Robert Eatman appeared as a witness against Paige, Pitts, and Latham, who were the three defendants at the hearing. Eatman testified that Angelo Shen set the stage for the home invasion in late 2008. When he told them Robert Che had a safe containing cash and other valuables, Joseph Page talked to Eatman about a sting they could do. In early 2009, Eatman drove Page to case the neighborhood. They got lost and had to call Angelo for directions.

On January 8th, the day before the crime, all of them met at a home in Philadelphia. Angelo went through the details of how to get inside, where to go, where the safe was at. He was really kind of like the ringleader. Yeah, I mean, I get it. He wasn't there when the crime occurred, but it's hard for me not to say that he was the mastermind, right? None of it happens without Angelo Schen.

It kind of reminds me a little bit of the case we did, I think just last week, where the guy pointed at this duplex and said, the marijuana is in the house on the left, you know, the door on the left. Oh, yeah, yeah. So he didn't participate in the crime, but he's the one that told the other people about it. He pointed it out. And so I think you can make the argument just like here. None of what ultimately occurs would have happened without the person who sets it up. Yeah.

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her mother's vehicle. She was paid $500 to drive and all she knew was what Joseph Page told her. He was going to get some money and he wanted me to drive. Now, get it. You may not be in on the full pretend. of what's going to happen, but do you at least have to question why somebody is paying you $500 to drive them to get some money? Yeah, unless you just know that they're not upstanding guys and they do bad stuff and

you're going to make some money by driving them around. And you kind of know whatever it is is going to be criminal, but you don't maybe exactly know what it is. Yeah. She dropped them off near the home. she waited at a nearby convenience store, then started driving around. She picked them up when she got a cell phone notification to do so. During the drive home, the men discussed whether they took too long there and whether there were cameras in the house.

On September 25, 2009, Angelo Schen pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, robbery, burglary, and other counts. His attorney said at no point at all that he ever contemplated. that any of his family members would have been hurt. And that probably is true. But here's the thing. If you're the mastermind of a crime where somebody dies, you're going to get charged. There's just no way around it.

As you should. And you should. I also thought it was interesting that these guys are talking about whether they had stayed there too long, but they're also discussing whether there were cameras in the house. because obviously they weren't wearing masks. Yeah. But I would have thought that that would have come up in the planning phase.

I would have thought Angela would have said, hey, by the way, there is a few cameras. Let me draw them in here on the map so you guys know where to avoid going. Yeah, I would have thought that. Sybil White also pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and other charges that same day. On December 24, 2009, Robert Eatman was sentenced to 20 to 40 years. in prison after pleading guilty to third degree murder, robbery and conspiracy. And that's interesting because on the episode that we have coming out on Thursday, we talk about a murder committed up in Canada and the person only got seven years.

Yeah, big difference. And they were let out on day parole in two years, you know, so we struggle with that a little bit. part of that is because we're used to U.S. sentences, 20 to 40 years in prison for what happened to me, I'm totally fine with. On January 12, 2010, the trial for Pitts, Page, and Latham began. In opening statements, prosecutor Todd Stevens told jurors that a mountain of evidence connected to three defendants to the home invasion, including cell phone records, DNA linking Page and Latham to the crime scene, as well as Angelo Shin's confession. Page learned Robert Chase's routines and the layout of his home from Angelo Shin.

So there is some evidence, right? I mean, it's not just the word of Angelo Shin, but I'm sure that that is a big part of it. You have the cell phone records. You have DNA, which is huge, right? linking at least two of the individuals to the crime scene. Yeah, I think they thought they were just going to go in and do this and get out quick with $100,000 and then quickly found out that that's not how it was going to go. And I believe they thought that maybe they didn't need the masks because they had no connection

to the family. So they had no idea who they were. They had no idea they were working with Angelo Shin. So there was never going to be a connection. or is my other theory, which is they were planning on killing them anyway, but everybody says that wasn't true. Yeah, but I think it could have been true, and they just got spooked when she fled the scene,

and they knew it was just a matter of time before the cops got there. And they had to get out quick. The three defense lawyers countered that prosecutors didn't believe the correct story. Robert Eamon, who was thought to be a getaway driver, was actually the violent intruder. The defense argued that early descriptions of a large attacker and a sketch of a suspect matched Eatman more closely than any of the three defendants. Boy, if you knew you were going to be pulled into this, I mean, that's the way to go.

Just to say, I was a getaway driver. When you were really like part of the violence that happened inside of the home. Yeah. Yeah. But it's also a pretty good tactic for the defense, right? they're trying to muddy the waters and they're saying, hey, police, yeah, I know you were told this story, but this isn't what happened. Testimony showed that Joseph Page's DNA was found on the fingertip of a black latex

glove. Amatadi Latham's DNA was found on duct tape, left behind at the crime scene. There was no DNA evidence linking Kare Pitts to the home invasion. I mean, really, if you think about it, these guys are kind of idiots, you know, using duct tape. What did, what you think was going to happen? No fingerprints on duct tape. I mean, it's like a duct tape magnet. Right.

With all that adhesive. Yeah, I think you're right. I don't think we're talking about, you know, criminal masterminds here. Janice Che testified that in the early morning darkness, it was difficult to see everything, except for the man who accosted her while the others duct taped and beat Robert. She gestured towards Amatadi Latham and said, he came right up to me and put a gun to my head. And I think if you're a juror, that's a pretty powerful statement.

Yeah. You have the victim directly identifying her attacker in court. She just painted that image in your head. And let's not forget, there's DNA that puts him at the scene. So I think that's a, that's a big one too. Janice cried. As she recounted the attack, she said Robert was dragged back into the garage. Seconds after opening the door to go to their car, the attacker who took her upstairs stayed behind her and hit his face while ordering her around. She testified that from what they were saying, they clearly knew what

was in the house and where it was. Well, we now know the reason behind that. Once again, Civil White testified that she used her mother's car to drive the three defendants to Robert Chase's neighborhood before dawn. They got out carrying duct tape and a gun and were wearing latex gloves. Okay. Maybe you throw that in a bag. I'm just saying. I'm not trying to tell you how you, how to do your job. But walking around, I guess, I'm, get it, it's five o'clock in the morning and there's probably not many people up at that time. I'm certainly not. But walking around with duct tape and a gun is not a great look.

No. Sybil was told via pay-as-you-go phone when to pick them up. During the ride back, Piths asked Paige, why'd you have to kill him? Page responded that he had to do what he had to do. During the drive-back, Latham used his phone to talk to a woman. And those phone calls were key evidence in the case. I mean, how upset are you if you're the other guy saying, you really?

You had a call, you're a woman, you know, and that's being used against us. You couldn't wait until you got home later. Well, I think there's this misconception, right, that these kind of burner phones or pay-as-you-go phones are untraceable. The problem is, and we've seen it, in a number of cases, the authorities have the ability to just look for any cell phone calls made in that area during a specific time.

Yeah. And once they get those, then they start working them. They can figure it, figure it all out. That's been used to crack a number of cases. That geo fencing or, yeah, we talked about it, I think, in a recent episode. FBI Special Agent William Schute showed jurors a map tracking the use of several cell phones from the Frankfurt neighborhood of Philadelphia to the area around the crime scene on the morning of January 9th. There was no record of a phone connected to Carré Pitts making the trip. However, cell phones linked to Page and Latham were used in the vicinity of Robert's home

at the time of the home invasion. So there is one thing that's kind of standing out there. to me here. Page and Latham have quite a mountain of evidence against them. But the prosecution doesn't have near as much linking pits. No DNA, no fingerprints. They don't even have the cell phone data that they have for the other two. Robert Eatman testified that he would not have been the ringleader of the robbery because he weighed more than 400 pounds and used a cane to get around because he was shot eight times in 2007. Eight times.

That's a story right there. That's a lot of times to be shot. But, you know, also, I think if you weigh in excess of 400 pounds, it does make more sense for you to be a getaway driver as opposed to someone going inside the house in what will likely be kind of a scenario where, you to be a getaway driver. as opposed to someone going inside the house in what will likely be kind of a scenario where the need for some agility may arise. Yeah, I mean, if you're 400 pounds and you're on a cane, are you really going to be going inside? I would think you'd be quite a liability. I would think so too. In a situation like that.

But again, let's not forget, the defense is trying to paint him as the violent intruder. Right. Eatman named Joseph Page, Amatadi Latham, and Karay Pitts as the attacker saying, My whole role was just to follow the car up there and watched their back. Joseph Page approached him about the robbery. He knew that there was a safe with a couple hundred thousand inside. Eatman went along to buy supplies for the raid and provided the duct tape used to restrain and suffocate robber. Instead of going into the house, he drove around the nought.

neighborhood and communicated by cell phone. Afterwards, he met the attackers in Philadelphia. Eatman recalled that Latham and Page were bloody from head to toe. From beating rubber. Yeah. I mean, a savage beating like that, again, we talk about it a lot. When you beat someone to a pulp up close, when you shoot someone at close range, it's very hard not to get blood on you.

Yeah. Now, this Eatman, he's kind of an interesting guy because he is definitely putting himself in this job, right, if you want to call it that, this plan to rob the house. He's very involved in it. He's just saying, I did this and this and this. The one thing I didn't do is go inside the home, but he still played a role. He supplied a lot of the materials they used. And was a getaway driver. The defense sought to discredit Eamon by pointing out inconsistencies in his account and his record for theft and cocaine dealing.

He admitted that he sold marijuana while on federal parole and took disability payment saying, I hustled, man. Mena Chay testified about seeing her father's body. She said, I turned the light on and saw this pool of blood and my dad just laying there. She also said, I really thought in the basement that we were all going to die. That's because I think that might have been the plan. Yeah.

And even if not, I could see how the victims would have thought that. And they're being bound. You have intruders inside the home. That thought has to go through your mind. We're all going to be killed. She saw two of the attackers and identified Amatadi Latham in court. she earlier identified Robert Eatman from a photograph, but prosecutor said she had confused him with Joseph Page. And that's interesting, right? Because the defense is trying to put Eatman inside the home.

Right. And here you have, at least at one point, Menna identifying him from a photograph. And the prosecution is saying, no, no, no, no, no. You got the wrong guy. Now, maybe it was just a headshot. and had it been full body, that would have been a different story. I don't know. Pathologist Paul Hoyer testified

that Robert was beaten and cut with a knife while his head was taped and that clotting blood from his broken nose sealed the small hole in the tape through which he had been breathing. He described it as a slow, painful death. I bet. You know, you're not getting much air at all

and it's slowly as minutes tick by, closing up, closing up until there's no way to get any air. It'd almost be like drowning. Yeah. Or something, you know, along those lines. Joseph Page's friend Rosemary Evans testified that he was sleeping on her couch while the robbery occurred. Her brother, Alfonso Fraylon, also testified that Paige was at their home the evening before, but he did not see him until late to follow him. morning. A defense DNA expert testified that the DNA analysis linking page to a glove fragment

revealed a third unknown profile as well. Amatadi Latham surprised the court with a confession. Towards the end of trial, he testified, I was present and seen everything that transpired inside the house. He said he and two others went into the home, pulled guns on Robert Che, and duct tape the family before robbing the safe and fleeing. But he said, Page and Pitts weren't the other robbers. It was Robert Eatman and Eatman's friend whom he only knew as O,

a bearded, broad-shouldered man. Latham said, I was pretty much following O's Lee. Okay. Wow. So number one, he just all of a sudden, towards the end of it, decides to confess,

but then he kind of turns everything on its head by saying, yeah, I was there, but Page and Pitts weren't. I mean, talking about mudding in the water. It was Eatman and this other guy who has never been brought up before, named O. Is this his way of trying to save his buddies? I don't know. It seems strange, doesn't it?

Because normally by this point at trial, it's everybody for themselves, you know? You're trying to save yourself. He's not really trying to save himself. That's the strange part about it. Maybe he felt like he was going to go down regardless, and he thought, well, I really don't like this guy and this other guy, but I like these guys. I'll give them a fighting chance. Yeah.

Maybe. Pitts wasn't mentioned in Latham's account, and he claimed that he only saw Page briefly when he went to a house for a planning meeting on January 8th. Page was walking out as he was going in. Latham testified that Angelo Schen told a guard at, Robert Chase retail shop about the safe, and the guard relayed that information to Eatman and Julius Wise, the other suspect who was still awaiting trial. While Wise was recovering from hip surgery and couldn't go along for the robber.

Latham had walked away from a halfway house on a drug sentence weeks before, and he wanted the money. He testified at the time, being a fugitive on the run, I didn't see what was wrong with it. I believe him. He thought, I'm a bad guy. I'm on the run. I need some cash. This is a easy way to get it. Yeah, they are, I'm already wanted. So what am I now going to be more wanted? But he said things went wrong quickly. Eatman pistol whipped Robert, then hit him smack dead in the face after O obsessively wrapped his head in tape. Latham testified, I never touched Mr. Che. O&E did all that. And you.

use the phrase Gibbs muddy the waters they are really muddy at this point they are but i'm guessing a 400 pound man can do some damage to somebody's face yeah i i guess man i don't but here's the thing and i don't want to focus so much on this guy's weight but you're not going to blend in no at 400 pounds you are really going to stand out to to to any way to any way one that is there at the home, right? Victims, all of that. Now, I get it if you didn't see them that great and maybe police are only showing you a mugshot, okay, maybe you get that wrong, but it's, at least in my thought, would be kind of hard to misidentify one of the attackers who weighs 400 pounds. And walking with a cane. And walks with a cane. The prosecutor

pressed Latham about his call to Sibyl White for a getaway ride, which Latham said was placed before they realized that Janice had escaped. According to Latham, O was the one who said he had to do what he had to do, not Joseph Page, as Sybil White had testified. So again, man, he is really throwing everything towards Eatman and this guy, Mr. O, while also incriminating himself, but he's basically saying these other two guys, they weren't there. They didn't have anything to do with it. Yeah, but what type of credibility does he have? Well, I don't really know that any of them have a ton.

On January 29, 2010, Joseph Page and Amatadi Latham were convicted of second-degree murder. Kari Pitts was acquitted of all charges. And that really doesn't surprise me, right? We talked about it. they didn't have the same type of evidence against Pitts that they had against Page and Latham. Now you also have Latham basically saying Pitts wasn't there. I could understand how the jury would have a hard time, convicting him. It'd be a stretch.

Yeah, I think it would be. ADA Todd Stevens said, we had somewhat overwhelming scientific evidence against Page and Latham. guess is that the jury wanted to see that against the third guy. And I think that's true. In a lot of cases, juries want that, you know, very compelling evidence. Well, you have it against these two. Why don't you have it against the third guy?

Maybe it's because he was there, but way more careful than the other guys. Or maybe he wasn't there. I don't know. Outside court, Richard Che said the verdict brought some closure. but they were more concerned with the fate of Angelo Schen. He said, we all know who the real bad person is. He's the person who started it. We believe that if it wasn't for him, everything would be normal.

I think he's absolutely correct. Yeah, me too, because like we said, right, he, meaning Angelo Shin, put everything in motion. None of this would have happened. I don't think without him. Yeah, he's the catalyst here. That's a great word. I know. You're surprised.

Carrey Pitt smiled as he was led away from court to await his formal release from jail. He said, I've been saying since day one, I'm innocent. On April 13, 2010, Joseph Page was sentenced to life in prison, plus 40 to 80 years for robbery and other counts. The consecutive sentence will make it impossible for a future governor to commute Paige's life sentence. Well, we know we're here. he'll be. Yeah, he's not going anywhere. The judge called the crime cold-blooded, saying there can be no justification whatsoever for what occurred. This defendant is not capable in my judgment of rehabilitation. He should never see the light of day again. When asking for consecutive sentences, the prosecutor

referred to Page's record showing he was previously accused of other violent crimes in Philadelphia, including murder and assault charges, all of which were either withdrawn or dismissed. Page insisted he was wrongfully convicted and was never at the robbery. He told the judge at the end of the day, I was railroaded through the whole trial. Everything was fixed.

The judge should have said, well, I had to do what I had to do. That would have been poetic. But again, like I said, right, they had a lot more evidence against Page and Latham, DNA, cell phone, records. Latham was sentenced to life in prison on April 27 plus consecutive sentences totaling 32 to 64 years for conspiracy and robbery.

Some healthy numbers there. Yeah. I mean, again, we know where he's going to be. He's not getting out. No. Julius Wise's trial started on June 7, 2010. The ADA argued that Wise was part of the planning, some of which occurred at his home in Philadelphia. A gun that was used also came from his home. Wise was portrayed as a strategist of the attack. Despite never going to the house because of his hip surgery, Wise previously testified in January 2010 that he had no role in planning or carrying out the robbery, but did admit to discarding evidence and keeping some of the robbery proceeds.

Why are you getting some of the proceeds if you weren't involved in it at all? Yeah. You're getting paid that, you're getting those proceeds because you got rid of some evidence? Sounds a little fishy. Prosecutors alleged that Wise provided his cell phone to Carrey Pitts for use during the home invasion. Pitts was not at an afternoon planning meeting on January 8, 2009. But Wise previously testified that Pitt showed up at his home later that night and took his phone, which he intended to use to communicate with the other.

robbers. Wise previously testified that Pitts, carrying a duffel bag of loot from the robbery, returned to his home about 6 a.m. on January 9th and told him the other conspirators wanted him to dispose of the items. He kept watches, purses, a jewelry box, and $1,500 in cash before dumping the bag in a wooded area. Wise's attorney argued the accusations were overblown and that he would testify that he had a minimal role. On June 8, 2010, one day after his trial began, Julius Wise pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, avoiding a more serious second-degree murder conviction

and a potential life sentence. Before trial, he had rejected a plea deal for third-degree murder. He had no explanation, but his attorney said that Wise seemed at peace with his decision. On August 10th, he was sentenced to 16 to 32 years in prison. He told the court that he felt left out when he couldn't go to Robert Chase's home, but he believed he could have prevented the murder if he had been there. He played a small role in the crime and asked the judge to have mercy on him.

Sounds like he might have got less if he would have went with a third degree. Yeah, I just wonder if this guy looked at, you know, some of the other outcomes and was like, oh, life plus consecutive years. I don't want to roll the dice on that. Yeah, yeah. I want to at least have some time outside prison eventually. On October 1st, 2010, Robert Eatman was sentenced to 24 and a half years in prison, plus four and a half to nine years for a robbery charge.

Edmund told the judge he was sorry and made a stupid mistake and was horrified at the result of the crime. Prosecutor said he participated in planning and cover up and he loaned his cell phone to the other defendant. and allowed one of them to take a gun from his home. On October 12, 2010, Angelo Shen was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison. On November 5th,

Sybil White was sentenced to 4 to 8 years in prison and 20 years of probation, marking the end of the legal proceedings. Well, so do you think Angelo got off okay, light, or do you think Angelo should have got more? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, 20 to 40 years is no joke. No.

Let's be honest about that. But again, I think he was also the mastermind, the catalyst. Nothing happens without him. But he also wasn't there. So I don't know how that all works out in the grand scheme of things. It does make some sense to me that the people who actually killed Robert Che are going to get the most. Right.

And maybe 20 to 40 is the right amount. I don't know. The family's probably going to say, no, you should have got life too. Right? Because they felt extremely betrayed by him. And they're right to feel that way. But like you said, 20 to 40, maybe he ends up leaning more towards the 40. Who knows?

But that's a long time away. It is. It'll be an old, old man. And I think, you know, whether he does 20, 30, 40, you would have to say, okay, at the end of it, whatever it turns out to be, he paid for his crime. Losing 20 or 30 years of your life or 40 years of your life, that's really hard to imagine for anybody, I think. I can't imagine it. Yeah, I don't know what type of life you would have after spending 40 years in prison coming out. what's that going to look like?

Yeah, he's going to be a felon. He's going to have all the difficulties that felons have once they get out of prison. So his life's not going to be easy even after he gets out. But as we wrap this one up, Gibbs, you know, Robert Che was known for being a very kind, hardworking person when his nephew first came to the U.S. Robert opened his door to Angelo and allowed him to stay for a year. Angelo Shen betrayed his family's trust and set the stage for a violent robbery that ended in his uncle's death, all because he wanted to impress his friends and was what many papers describe as a gangster wannabe.

And as one prosecutor put it, it's just, again, hard to imagine. I'm sure he never thought that this was going to end up with somebody being killed. Yeah. But how do you do that to your family? You know, I mean, here's somebody, Robert and his wife that works hard for their money. And you think, okay, I want to get in with this crowd. I want to be cool like these gangsters. So I'll tell them about how my uncle holds this amount of money and is safe. And that'll elevate me up into this circle of people. but even if you don't believe that someone's going to get hurt, how do you take that chance? Yeah. Because you never know when you're sending four, five,

however many people are going, right? Known criminals, what's going to happen? You're really taking a chance with your loved ones lives. You really are. And he did. He did. And he's paying the price for it.

But that's it for our episode on Robert Cheney. We got a voicemail. You want to check that out? Let's hear it. Hey, this is Monica Fenford in Buffalo, New York, calling to correct Givie on the Liddy-A-Dombe episode when he said Sir Mix-A-Lot. It started the baby got back. It was Sir Mix-A-Lot, not Tom Loke.

He said Sir M-Oak. He said Tone-Loke. But it was actually Sir-Mex-A-L-L-Lad, so I had to call and Correct Givie. Love you guys. Team, both of you guys. Have a great day. Oh, man. Did I mess up?

Did I do that? Did I do that? You know? Not Gibby being wrong. No, thanks Monica for the voicemail. I actually also got a lot of emails. Did you? I didn't tell you about them because I know how much it hurts your ego.

Yeah. Huh. You hate to be wrong. I do. But you were. Slightly. And Monica pointed it out. Yes, Monica did from Buffalo, New York.

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.