Clarence and Geneva Roberts
Real Names: Clarence and Geneva Roberts
Case: Unexplained Deaths
Date: November 18, 1970
Location: Nashville, Indiana
Case
Details: Clarence Roberts owned a hardware shop in Nashville, Indiana, and was regarded as a pillar of the communtity. His wife Geneva had come from humble beginnings and stood by him as he built his business, raising four children and moving into progressively nicer surroundings, as the Robertses eventually acquired three luxury cars and a large house. However, the profit from Clarence's hardware store was insufficient to finance this upper class lifestyle, and the Robertses were in heavy debt. To cover the large expenses, Clarence sold his hardware shop and rolled over the capital into several grain elevators and an apartment complex. Misfortunes sunk these real estate investments, and Clarence had two of his cars repossessed one month before his supposed death.
On November 18, 1970, a fire destroyed a shack. One body was discovered which was identified as that of Clarence Roberts. On November 29, 1980, ten years later, another fire destroyed the Roberts residence. Two bodies were discovered. One was identified as Geneva Roberts, and the other was identified as Clarence Roberts! The strange case of a man dying twice became the talk of the town. No one is sure if the body in the first or second fire was Clarence's, or if he may have murdered two or three people, placed the bodies in the fires, and may still be alive.
Suspects: Two days before the first fire, Clarence was sighted at a tavern in Morgantown, another town in Brown County, where he bought dinner for a hobo and offered him work doing odd jobs around his house. The vagrant collapsed unexpectedly and complained of an ailment, and Clarence volunteered to take him to a doctor. However, a police search of the clinics and hospitals of Brown County and all adjacent counties turned up no record that the vagrant was admitted for treatment. A shotgun was discovered in the ashes of the first fire. While some believe Clarence committed suicide and died in the first fire, others suspect that Clarence may have murdered the vagrant on the night before the "death" and that he may have placed the man's body in the fire and watched the conflagration while hiding in the woods. Also, blood evidence showed that the body found in the 1970 fire was most likely not Clarence's. Blood drawn from the corpse was type AB, while Clarence had type B blood in accordance from medical reports found in his US Army service record. Another mismatched piece of evidence was a ring belonging to Clarence was found in the ashes, but oddly undamaged by the fire's intense heat. Adding to the speculation was that 1970 was the same year that Clarence paid for multiple life insurance policies on himself, naming Geneva as the beneficiary. The inconsistent evidence from the first fire caused the insurance agencies to deny Geneva claiming the annuities to Clarence's life insurance. Geneva appealed, and the courts upheld the denials, which was disheartening for her. Losing everything, Geneva moved into a more squalid house in the lower class area, and took a job working in the kitchen of the local Howard Johnson's to make ends meet. Years later, neighbors reported a strange man lurking near Geneva's house who avoided contact with anyone. While it seems likely that Geneva had resumed dating after Clarence's death, the fact she denied contacting such a man, nor allowed anyone inside her house fueled speculation that the strange man was not a new boyfriend, but was in fact Clarence who had exhausted his savings and could no longer afford to be on the land, thus returning to Geneva. Another factor that added to the gossip was that local shopkeepers said that Geneva often bought large quantities of beer from them when she did her food shopping. As Geneva had diabetes, she tended to eschew alcohol when with others, which fueled belief she was harboring someone. In 1980, nearly a decade to the day after the first fire, a second fire burned down Geneva's house. The discovery of two bodies, one Geneva's, suggests either Clarence returned and murdered both Geneva and the strange man in a jealous rage, or that Clarence was indeed the strange man and that he and Geneva committed suicide together to allow their children to cash in on their life insurance.
Extra Notes: The original airdate of the segment is December 14, 1988.
The judge shown in the segment was an actual Brown County magistrate, who adjudicated the lawsuit between the insurance company and the real Geneva Roberts. He reprised his ruling in the re-enacted court case, telling the actress playing Geneva Roberts about being sorry but her lost case and recommending appellate action.
Results: Unsolved
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