Crime Junkie
Crime Junkie
"The ring can't exist if the hands and feet don't exist." — Ashley Flowers (Highlighting the forensic contradiction regarding the fire's heat and the preservation of a ring.)
"But the difference in the blood types is just a simple, clerical air from the military. So we're going all the way back to that." — Ashley Flowers (Illustrating how a seemingly significant discrepancy was later attributed to a basic error.)
"And in the ensuing report, they basically say that the mystery will likely never be solved. They concluded that the initial investigation back in 1970 was subpar and evidence was likely lost or not preserved well enough to be of any use." — Ashley Flowers (Summarizing the ultimate conclusion regarding the case's unsolvability due to early investigative failures.)
This episode delves into the enduring mystery surrounding Clarence Roberts, whose presumed death in a 1970 house fire became a complex criminal investigation. The fire, initially suspected to be arson with suicide or insurance fraud as potential motives for Clarence, yielded a severely burned body in the garage. Forensic examination presented significant contradictions: the body lacked ash in its lungs, had a missing kidney and skull top, and its hands and teeth were inexplicably absent, despite evidence of a shotgun and a Masonic ring. Autopsy findings indicated carbon monoxide poisoning as the cause of death, with a blood type (AB) that conflicted with Clarence's military records (B).
Over the following years, the investigation grappled with numerous theories and conflicting evidence. The discovery of Clarence's wallet with a card stating his blood type as AB, and the Indiana State Police re-interpreting X-rays to suggest a match, leaned towards the victim being Clarence. However, the family insisted the body was not Clarence, and the identification remained contested. A parallel incident involving an assault in a parking lot, with a perpetrator smelling of petroleum products, briefly offered a potential link to the arson accelerant but ultimately appeared unrelated. A second fire in 1980 at Geneva Roberts' home, resulting in two bodies, added further layers of confusion, with one body confirmed as Geneva and the other tentatively identified as Clarence, though the family again disputed it.
Ultimately, the case remained largely unresolved. A grand jury in 1976 indicted Clarence on murder and kidnapping charges, suggesting he faked his death, killed an identified man named John Cupsilitis (though this identification was later retracted), and set the fire for insurance money or to escape. Geneva lost her legal battle for life insurance benefits. Years later, in 1983, a grand jury concluded that the initial 1970 investigation was flawed, evidence was lost, and the mystery would likely never be solved, although they determined Geneva was murdered and Clarence's death might have been accidental or part of a plot. The identity of the first victim and the circumstances of both fires remain subjects of speculation.