Alexis Del Cid Interview With John Roberts






The man accused of killing his wife says he is innocent and that soon the medical records will prove it. On Feb. 13, Koin News 6 reporter Alexis Del Cid conducted a phone interview with John Roberts while he was in jail. The following is a summary of her notes. They spoke about 20-25 minutes.

ALEXIS: Investigators don't believe your wife had Lou Gehrig's Disease. Did you lie about that?

ROBERTS: They can't find the Kaiser [Permanente] paperwork. Once they do, and when Kaiser finds all the proper paperwork and the right doctors, this will all go away. She did have Lou Gehrig's. She'd been suffering for some time.

ALEXIS: What's the name of the doctor who diagnosed her with it?

ROBERTS: (PAUSE) I've given that information to my attorney.

ALEXIS: When was she diagnosed?

ROBERTS: About 7 or 8 months ago a neurologist diagnosed her and said he'd help us through the final stages when it got too bad.

ALEXIS: Did you expect this to happen to you after killing her?

ROBERTS: Unlike OJ, Robert Blake, and Phil Spector, I expected to go to prison for a certain amount of time till it all cleared up- I didn't expect speculation that she wasn't really sick.

ALEXIS: Did she ask you to kill her?

ROBERTS: We had a code phrase.

ALEXIS: What do you mean?

ROBERTS: When she said that phrase- that was when I was supposed to kill her.

ALEXIS: What was the phrase?

ROBERTS: "I don't want to live another day like this."

ALEXIS: She said that the night you shot her?

ROBERTS: Yes.

ALEXIS: So she said that phrase and you knew that meant you were supposed to kill her?

ROBERTS: Yes.

ALEXIS: So she knew when she went to sleep that night you would shoot her while she slept?

ROBERTS: Yes.

ALEXIS: What about all the empty beer cans and liquor bottles that police found at your house and in your car? Were you drunk?

ROBERTS: I was absolutely sober. The cans were in my truck for recycling. The liquor bottles were from a holiday party.

ALEXIS: Did she leave behind any notes?

ROBERTS: She left messages for her family and friends.

ALEXIS: But everything was in your handwriting.

ROBERTS: She couldn't write any more, so I wrote them.

ALEXIS: In your statements to police, according to court documents, you say that your marriage was marked with numerous infidelities- that you had cheated on her many times. What's your response?

ROBERTS: That's between Virginia and I. I told the truth about everything.

ALEXIS: Do you regret it? Killing her?

ROBERTS: Absolutely not. I made a promise to her not to let her go through that.

ALEXIS: Would you do it again?

ROBERTS: Yes. It was the hardest thing I've ever done and the easiest thing I've ever done.

2/13/2008
http://www.koin.com/Global/story.asp?S=7869235