Piper Rountree

Okay, this is one murder that I can understand..I will explain in a minute..but first, the back story..
This is the story of the murder of Fred Jablin, a respected college professor, by his wife, Piper Rountree. Piper Rountree was a lawyer who had success in Texas. Her husband was a college professor who was offered a job in Richmond VA, so they moved. She got to Virginia and couldn't pass the Virginia state bar exam, so she pretty much was a stay at home mom while her husband pursued his career. She soon became bored and lonely because he was always at work and she basically had no life outside of her children. So she did what a lot of women do in this circumstance, she had an affair. When Fred found out, he filed for divorce. Piper tried to stay on in Virginia for the sake of her children, but could not find work and was still lonely. All of her family was in Texas. When the divorce went through, because of Pipers adultery and because she couldn't find work, Fred was granted primary custody of their children and she would have to pay child support..so basically Piper went back to Texas with her tail between her legs. She really had no choice, she had to pay child support and could not pay if she could not find work in Virginia. She had her law degree and could practice law in Texas. Not to mention, her family was there and she needed their support. I don't really know how much time went by before her and her sister decided to kill Fred Jablin..I guess she missed her children so much that she would do anything to have them with her, even if it meant murder.

Pipers' motivation was to assure that she was granted custody of their three children. So her and her sister clumsily constructed a series of events designed to provide Piper with an alibi. But since the sisters were not as smart as they believed they were, the attempt ultimately failed. Wearing a wig and using her sister's identification for plane tickets and hotel reservations, Piper flew from Texas to Virginia, where she gunned down her estranged husband in the driveway of his home, as their three children slept in their beds mere yards away. Despite the sister's best efforts to concoct an air tight alibi and dispose of evidence, it was just a matter of time before justice came calling.When police investigators began questioning those close to the family who knew about the contentious divorce between Piper and her husband, Fred Jablin, several individuals suggested the police take a closer look at his ex-wife. Police departments in two states, along with the prosecution team, compiled an impressive mound of evidence and detailed a paper trail that spanned the country from Texas to Virginia and back again.Although Piper had once served as a defense attorney herself, she was uninformed when she assumed she would never be arrested, much less convicted. The most damning piece of evidence came in the form of cell phone records. While Piper casually spoke to her 12 year old son and informed him she was on a business trip in Texas, she was calling from the very neighborhood in which her children resided with their father. (Damn. Forgot about those cell phone records!) So basically, that is how she was caught. The cell phone left a trail from tower to tower along interstate 95 heading into the Baltimore airport. Not to mention, the airline receptionist pointed her out as Piper Rountree in a wig, not Tina Rountree as she was supposed to look like.

Piper got life in the clinker...so she will never see her children outside prison walls again..I know she is beating herself up every day..it was totally NOT worth it.

Okay, the reason I can understand her story is because I lived almost the same story..My ex-husband took me from my family in North Carolina and moved me to Texas. I didn't have any close friends that I could lean on when I needed it because he invaded my space at every turn...(this is a man who controlled my entire life) all of my friends had to be friends with him too. So I basically had no one to talk to, or turn to because he would be sure to give them his side first..They were friends with him too so if I had a marital problem, which I always had, I couldn't talk to them. eventually, I asked for a divorce, we separated and I met someone else. Someone I could spend time with and talk to without his interference. The relationship became pysical once..and I told my ex about it. Well, he decided he was coming back home, and eventually kicked me out, without my children. the relationship was so volatile, I wanted him dead. More than anything..I wanted him dead. There was so much hatred there that I saw red every time he was mentioned or every time I saw him. I eventually packed my belongings, took my children out of school and drove back to NC..with him following me for almost 600 miles. I go back to NC..got a job, got my own house, and put the kids in school. Well, stupid me..I didn't go to a judge and get primary custody of my three children on paper..I didn't think I needed to. They are my kids..right? Wrong. After a year of peaceful living..and not having a man control my every move..he shows up while I was at work and kidnapped my children. I got to him before he got out of the state...and when I tried to reach in the car to get my 2 1/2 year old son, he rolled the window up on my arm and drove off. He was out of the state within the hour and my son was gone. The police could not do anything since he was out of state and I didn't have legal papers saying I had primary custody. There was a warrant for his arrest for domestic violence and kidnapping, but he used my children to get me to drop the charges. He would never let me see them until the warrant was dropped. He came back a few months later and got my oldest son..there was nothing I could do since he lied and had papers saying he had custody of the children the entire time that they were living with me. The papers said I abandoned them, as a family. I wanted to go back to Texas and fight him..but I had a 13 year old daughter (from a previous relationship) and could not take her out of school and move her half way across the country (again) when I had no job or home there. I had no one in Texas and he knew it. So my boys didn't grow up with me. In fact for the first six months that they were both gone, he didn't let me have any contact with them. Okay. this is why I get it. I don't know about Fred Jablin, but my ex is an evil man..and very manipulative and the best liar I have ever seen..I could never win against someone who can do or say anything because he has no conscience. And when you are in a relationship for as long as I was..there are so many emotions..I was married to him for 10 years. He knows every button to push. We don't know..maybe Fred Jablin was pushing Piper Rountree's buttons. And when you are a mother, you will fight tooth and nail to keep your children happy. My children had been through so much, I couldn't risk putting them through anymore. So I left it alone. But I can't lie and say I didn't fantasize about killing the SOB. I did. I wanted him dead..and I still have a hatred inside of me that will not go away..but I have learned to put it aside. It was eating me up inside, and if I would have let it continue to fester, I WOULD have killed him..
So now you know..In my opinion, just because she had an affair didn't mean she wasn't a good mother. If your man isn't giving you what you need, and you try everything to make it work, and he still refuses to listen, he deserves to be cheated on..Wives are people too! Although...she should have left him first..why stay in a marriage if you are just going to cheat?
Obviously, she didn't think about how killing their father was going to affect the children. Like I said, I understand her motives..but I don't condone it. Only GOD has the right to take a life. Piper Rountree has the rest of her life to think about the mistakes she made.

To read the entire story click on the link below.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/family/piper_rountree/2.html