A murder mystery
March 8, 2005 | 4:13 pm | Uncategorized | When I was a Bartender | 2
I bet you didn’t know I was involved in a murder case, did you?
Typically, my involvement in crimes is limited to my job as a journalist, where I research and write about them. But this time, I was actually a witness — sort of.
Last October, Christopher and I spent Halloween in New Orleans. Our stay there had to be extended due to some minor complications, but that’s a whole other story.
When we finally got back to Houston, on Nov. 3, the first thing I did was head to the bar to pick up my paycheck and leftover tips. I made this my first priority because spending Halloween weekend at a scooter rally in New Orleans tends to be a little taxing on the pocket book.
At this time, I was still for the most part enjoying my job as a bartender, so I decided to stick around for a few minutes, have a drink and visit with one of my coworkers and some of the regulars. Everybody wanted to know how my trip went and why I was mysteriously missing for three days.
Unfortunately, my personal drama got trumped by a woman who rushed in, ran up to my coworker and shoved a piece of paper into her face. Eavesdropping, I found out that this woman, who was accompanied by her sister and a man, was waving around an affidavit that she wanted my bartender pal and Kevin, a regular at the bar, to sign. She told us her ex-husband had been killed in Virginia over the weekend, and she wanted them to sign the papers, proving that they had seen her at the bar on the night in question. She had to provide an alibi for the police, and she had brought with her a notary public, the man.
Of course, both Kevin and Cheryl, my coworker, said no. “If the police are doing an investigation, you can tell them to call me,” Cheryl said. “And I’ll answer any question they have.”
Well, the police did call. And they came to the bar. And they wanted to interview all the regulars. Then the reporters started calling. Then the lawyers. Pretty soon this crime of passion was the talk of the Volcano. Each day as the story unfolded, the regulars at the bar scoured the newspapers, looking for more details.
Piper Rountree and Fred Jablin had been married 19 years. She was a lawyer and he was a doctor. She began having affairs with another doctor, and the divorce was messy. Messy enough, in fact, that the judge gave him full custody of their three kids.
Throughout the high-profile divorce, there was a lot of bad publicity about her. Although she had a good education, she had a hard time holding down a job for more than a year. She racked up huge credit card bills in his name. She was addicted to prescription amphetamines.
Her sister Tina, who had been with her at the bar, was a prominent OBGYN in Houston. After the divorce, the sisters stayed in Houston while Jablin moved to Virginia with the children. There, he gained a loyal following as a professor at the University of Richmond, which is why his death received so much coverage.
Piper Rountree used her sister’s driver’s license to go to a shooting range three days before the murder. She also used Tina’s identity and wore a blonde wig when she flew from Houston to Richmond a couple of days before the killing. Fred Jablin was shot in the back as he walked out of his house on the morning of Oct. 30 and bent over to pick up the paper. That night, Piper Rountree was at Volcano. Investigators believe she killed her ex-husband so she could get custody of the children.
I learned all this through conversations at work and from accounts in the paper (which you can read here). What happened on Nov. 3, the day Rountree tried to secure her alibi, I know because I was there. Luckily, I kept quiet about the whole thing, and I was not called to testify, even though Cheryl and Kevin were.
On Feb. 27, the jury in Richmond found her guilty and recommended life in prison.
This is the type of story people go bananas about. Just look at all the coverage it received in Richmond. According to the Times Dispatch’s archives, the only camera allowed in the courtroom during the trial was a camera for the CBS program 48 Hours. 48 HOURS is even covering the case, for an episode in May for crying out loud!
Here’s the best part. Tonight, they’re filming for a scene for the series at Volcano.
UNDER THE VOLCANO, A HANGOUT FOR MURDERESSES AND ALIBI SEEKERS. I knew I was doing the right thing when I left that hellhole. My jerky former boss has got to love it. You can’t just BUY that kind of publicity.
I am interested in hearing more about the run-in with New Orleans finest..
Mmmm, I bet you are…