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Killer in the family podcast
A true crime podcast exploring men who kill their families.
Killer in the family podcast
Episode 65 - Janet Abaroa
In 2005 25 year old Janet Abaroa was found dead by her husband Raven – she was pregnant at the time and also had a six month old son who was unharmed. Although Janet’s murder is still technically unsolved her family always suspected that it was Raven who killed her and his unborn child. In 2014 he entered an Alford Plea acknowledging that there was enough evidence to convict him but didn’t technically admit guilt for the murders.
This is the story of Janet Abaroa and her unborn child.
Information and support
· Samaritans UK Contact Us | Samaritans
· National Domestic Violence Helpline UK 0808 2000 247
· Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse (AAFDA) Home - AAFDA
· Women’s Aid Home - Women's Aid
· National Domestic Abuse Helpline UK 0808 2000 247
· Mental health support USA Mental Health America | Homepage | Mental Health America
· Domestic abuse helpline USA 1.800.799.SAFE Domestic Violence Support | National Domestic Violence Hotline
References
Video Janet Abaroa's family remembers the slain 25-year-old mother - ABC News
Where Are Janet Abaroa's Sisters and Brother Today?
MURDERED: Janet Abaroa | Crime Junkie Podcast
Janet Abaroa Murder: Who Was Behind Her Tragic End?
Where Is Raven Abaroa Now and Why Was He Released?
Woman 'Lucky' to Get Away from Husband Accused of Murdering 1st Wife - ABC News
Credits
Hosted and created by Clare Laxton @ladylaxton
Produced by: Clare Laxton
Killer in the family podcast (buzzsprout.com)
Music from Pixabay.
Killer in the family podcast is a total labour of love. If you'd like to support me please buy me a coffee or tea!
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/clarelaxton
Hi there and welcome to Killer in the Family, and thanks so much to everyone for your comments and feedback on my recent episodes. Your listens, downloads and subscribes mean so much to me, so thank you. Now let's get straight into this episode. In 2005, 25-year-old Janet Abaroa was found dead by her husband, raven. She was pregnant at the time and also had a six-month-old son, who was thankfully unharmed. Although Janet's murder is still technically unsolved, her family always suspected that it was Raven who killed her and his unbornmed. Although Janet's murder is still technically unsolved, her family always suspected that it was Raven who killed her and his unborn child. In 2014, he entered something called an Alford plea, acknowledging that there was enough evidence to convict him, but didn't technically admit guilt for the murders. This is the story of Janet Abaroa and her unborn child. Now, this is going to be a tough listen team, not just because it's a story of a woman and her unborn child being killed, but also because it doesn't really feel like justice has been done for her and her family. It's also a case with lots of twists and turns, and I'd be really interested to know what you think after you've listened. As usual, there are links to information and support and all my sources in the episode notes. So let's start by talking about Janet and her family.
Speaker 1:So let's start by talking about Janet and her family. Janet was born Janet Marie Christensen on the 19th of June 1979 in Alexandria in Virginia in the United States. So Alexandria is about seven miles south of Washington DC and its population is mostly made up of like civil servants and military personnel, on account of its proximity to DC. Now, janet grew up in a big family. She was one of 10 children and here are some of the names of her siblings. So there's Dina, kendall, valeni, soria, krista Bickhart, erica Bakey, sonia Flood and Mark Christensen. Janet's family was a Mormon family and followed the Mormon faith. Now we have talked about members of the Mormon family and Mormon faith on the podcast before. It's also known as Latter-day Saints religion.
Speaker 1:Anyway, some of Janet's siblings appeared in an ABC 2020 documentary about Janet and they just waxed lyrical about her warm and friendly personality. She was a really confident woman growing up in the 80s. She was really smart and friendly and warm. Her sister, dina, said that she loved children and would often look after her, like Dina's children, as they grew up, and I'm sure that Janet just couldn't wait to have her own family. Janet's brother, mark, said that she was really funny and just made him feel really comfortable. Janet was also really athletic and apparently excelled at loads of sports, including football well, soccer in the US swimming and basketball. And photos of Janet from her childhood that was shown on the ABC documentary just depicts a really fun-loving and smiley young woman who I'm sure was just excited about what the world had to offer.
Speaker 1:After she graduated high school, janet went to South Virginia University, which is in the state of Virginia and particularly embraces the Latter-day Saints religion. The ABC documentary about Janet said that she was a bit of a trailblazer at university as she continued her sporty ways and actually played in the university's first ever women's football or soccer team. And it was through playing football that Janet met her future husband, raven Abaroa. Now Raven was also from a Mormon family and was born in 1980. Janet's family talked about him in the ABC documentary I mentioned. They described him as very charismatic and like a prince charming, and apparently when they first met, janet was actually seeing someone else, but Raven seemed determined to have her and just swept her off her feet. Mark, janet's brother, told the ABC documentary that Raven would sort of win everyone over and make everyone in the room like him. Janet's sister, krista, said that he tried very hard to make everybody believe that he had the perfect life, and another one of Janet's sisters, erica, said that actually she was really wary of him at the beginning and questioned why he was trying so hard.
Speaker 1:Now, all of these descriptions of Raven is really ringing alarm bells with me. Firstly, that that sort of determination of him to like win Janet when she was seeing someone else absolutely reeks of a controlling and very narcissistic, selfish person. Seeing Janet is like an achievement or a prize, probably because she was a beautiful and talented young woman and was already taken by someone else. And those descriptions of someone who was like Prince Charming and very charismatic and someone who swept Janet off her feet is just a classic controlling and narcissistic personality traits. He is love bombing her, which is often how a controlling and abusive relationship starts. Those descriptions of someone who's always had to be seen to be successful also screams narcissist to me as well, and it turned out later on that Raven had a violent streak too.
Speaker 1:Janet's brother, mark, told the ABC documentary that when he was a teenager, raven accused him of stealing some money. When Mark denied it, raven apparently became violent, pushing him up against the wall and slamming his head. Now apparently Raven also said to him something like you don't really know who I am. That must have just been absolutely terrifying for Mark. Now, at this point he didn't tell anyone, as he knew that Raven and Janet were having marriage problems and didn't want to add to them. Now apparently Raven did eventually win over Janet's family with his convictions to his Mormon faith and talking about the Mormon missions that he'd been on in Peru. So they were impressed by his sort of dedication to his faith and Janet and Raven got married in the year 2000, when Janet was 20 and Raven was 19. They started their married life in a town called Smithfield in Virginia and just looked like the perfect young, married Mormon couple. There's a Christmas video that's shown in the ABC documentary and in it Raven and Janet are like wishing their friends and family a Merry Christmas, and then Raven shows off one of his presents, a lovely new knife for his knife collection. I mean, red flags are waving again here. Team Soon into their marriage, janet and Raven moved into a town called Durham in North Carolina, which is about 170 miles southwest of Smithfield, so quite a big move for both of them, and they both had jobs with a sporting goods company called Eurosport.
Speaker 1:So it seemed like they had a really exciting new life together and their married life was getting on to a great start. However, as with so many cases we talk about on this podcast, all was not as it seemed In 2003,. So, just after three years of marriage, raven confessed to Janet that he'd been having an affair Actually, not just one affair, but multiple affairs with multiple women. Now I don't know if this had happened by then, but years later Raven's first trial, a former colleague of his would testify how he made unwanted sexual advances towards her in 2003 on a work trip. According to the Crime Junkie podcast episode on this case, this co-worker had sex with Raven because she was worried what would happen if she said no. Apparently she even left some of her hair in his car in case she went missing. Now I do not know what Raven did or said, but to feel that unsafe and to basically be forced into having sex because you're scared about what would happen if you said no says a lot about the bloke, and none of it is good.
Speaker 1:So Raven had just admitted to being unfaithful to Janet and he leaves the house that they share together. Janet, quite understandably, is devastated. She tells neighbours that she is just so, so upset and she couldn't believe that he would be unfaithful and break their marriage vows. She is crying and crying and she loves. She says that she still loves Raven, but she just doesn't know if she can forgive him. And it was at this point that Janet finds out that she is pregnant with her and Raven's first child. And just remember how much Janet loved children and how much she was looking forward to having a family. This period must have just been awful for her. Does she bring up a baby alone or take back her philandering husband? She decided in the end that she didn't want to raise a baby alone and after Raven promised to change, etc, etc. He moved back in and they welcomed baby Caden on the 17th of October 2004. Although Janet maybe still wasn't happy in her marriage, she absolutely loved being Caden's mother.
Speaker 1:Now, as if a fragile marriage and a new baby weren't trying enough, it was around this time that Raven was also caught embezzling from the sports company that they both worked for. He was apparently caught stealing around $9,000 to $10,000 worth of merchandise and pleaded guilty to embezzlement, although he didn't have to serve any jail time. You know, apparently Raven was really worried about money, and I couldn't really find out why, because obviously they both had jobs and seemed to be doing well. And I mean, maybe he wanted to show off an expensive life and just couldn't afford it. I'm not sure, but he was worried about money and obviously that's why he stole from his employers. Now, obviously, raven lost his job after this, and remember that Janet worked at the same company. Although she'd done nothing wrong, she was so embarrassed that she quit her job too. Now, interestingly, no matter how bad their money problems got, raven never missed a payment on his and Janet's life insurance policies. So, by April 2005, not only did we have a marriage which had experienced quite a few troubles a new baby, an embezzling husband and financial pressures but Janet was also newly pregnant with her second child, a child who would never get the chance to live.
Speaker 1:Now, around 10pm on the 26th of April 2005, 911 dispatch received a call from Raven Abaroa from his house in Durham, north Carolina. He said that he'd just got home from playing football and had found his wife, janet, dead upstairs in their house, and that she had been shot. He said that there was blood everywhere and he thought she'd been shot in the chest. Paramedics and police are immediately dispatched to the house and it is clear that Janet is dead, as is her unborn child. They had both been murdered, as is her unborn child. They had both been murdered. Her six-month-old baby, Caden, is just in the next room, but thankfully he is unharmed.
Speaker 1:As Durham police start their investigations and begin collecting evidence in the house, raven calls Janet's parents around 5am the next morning, a call that no parent ever wants to receive. Apparently, he was so sort of incoherent at the start of the call they had no idea what he was saying. When they could finally understand him, he told them that Janet was dead. I cannot imagine how Janet's parents were feeling at that point, but what Raven said next would shock them further. He not only said that Janet had been shot, but that she had taken her own life. What Like? Why did he say that? This was not confirmed by anyone and it wasn't clear at all. And if you are not sure, then why would you say that to someone's parents? And actually, as the police continued their investigations, they found that Janet had not been shot at all, but that she had been stabbed three times in the chest and that they were treating her death as homicide, not suicide, janet's poor family being told that she'd taken her own life Apparently they knew that she would never have done that. She had a six-month-old baby and was pregnant. She would never leave her children. Now.
Speaker 1:Janet's family immediately became suspicious of Raven and his behaviour. There were a couple of bits of evidence that the police collected that night. One was a bloody footprint next to Janet and another one was a fingerprint in the bedroom too where she was found. While Raven would now go around telling people that Janet was killed by an intruder, presumably after he stopped telling people that she took her own life. But police found no evidence of forced entry at all, no smashed windows or doors or generally no sign of any intruder, and also there was no sign of anything of value was missing. Janet's engagement and wedding rings were left by the sink, presumably taken off to do the dishes, and other valuables were left in the house, so no sign of robbery either. The interesting thing that police did find was that raven's laptop and a knife from his infamous knife collection was missing.
Speaker 1:The search for Janet and her unborn child's killer started and the first spotlight was placed on husband and father Raven. Murder of Janet and her unborn child reverberated around her family, friends and community. Her devastated family held a vigil to remember her and everyone wore purple ribbons. While everyone was grieving for Janet, the Durham police were appealing for any information anyone had that could help them investigate her murder. Her murder. While everyone was grieving for Janet, her apparent loving and devoted husband, raven, was not grieving but was moving.
Speaker 1:According to the ABC documentary, just a few weeks after Janet was murdered, raven moved himself and his son, caden over 2,000 miles across the country to Salt Lake City in Utah where his family lived. Now, while it might make sense for him to be closer to his family, it does seem strange that he did it so soon after Janet was killed, and he also apparently stopped helping police with their investigations as well. At the start he cooperated, and then he just started ignoring them. Now I know we've said before that it is really hard to know how someone might react when someone they love is murdered, but I know that if my husband had been murdered, I would be banging down the door of the police every day to get answers, to try and help their investigation and to be kept up to date with what they were doing to find his killer. I would definitely not be moving 2,000 miles away from our home and family and basically ignore the police when they try and contact me about the investigation. Now, as if this wasn't suspicious enough, janet's sisters actually discovered that Raven had cashed in on Janet's $500,000 life insurance policy before she was even buried. Before his wife, who had been murdered, was buried, he made it a priority to get his hands on that life insurance payout that he always made sure was up to date, no matter his financial worries. I cannot with this guy, I mean suspicious much Over the next couple of years.
Speaker 1:Sadly, not much progress was made in the investigation on who had murdered Janet, though Raven remained a person of interest for the police. Janet's family were pushing for progress and constantly in touch with the police. Raven, meanwhile, was building his new life in Utah. In 2007, he actually went on the NC Wanted show to talk about how much he did not kill his wife and then apparently just got on with his life. And just a couple of months after this, raven started dating someone new. Oh, how lovely for him. He met a woman called Vanessa Pond because both their kids went to the same preschool and Vanessa told ABC later that she thought Raven seemed very upfront and honest and genuine and she was attracted to a single father who was, you know, bringing his child up on his own. So Vanessa and Raven started dating and Raven did tell her that his wife had died pretty early on into their dating. He said that she had been killed by an intruder. Now Vanessa told ABC that she felt sorry for him and wanted to be there for him. Just as a side note here, this really reminds me of Scott Peterson when he was having an affair with Amber before he killed his wife Lacey, and how he told Amber that he had lost his wife even though she was still alive. It just has really similar vibes for me.
Speaker 1:Anyway, vanessa's dad, randy, was actually an ex-cop, so her instincts got the better of her after Raven had told her that his wife had died and she went home and she Googled like she'd never Googled before. She read everything and even watched that NC Wanted interview from a few months before Now. After all that, according to the Crime Junkie podcast, she wasn't convinced that he was innocent and she actually went to Raven and told him what she thought and asked him all the questions. She told ABC that in that conversation he removed all doubt from her mind. No doubt this was Raven's charming and manipulative personality just persuading her what he wanted her to believe. So Vanessa and Raven continued dating. When he met her parents, her dad, randy, asked him straight up whether he killed his wife and Raven responded I loved my wife. So he didn't answer the question at all, totally avoided it and never actually issued a denial Suspicious much.
Speaker 1:Now, at this point, janet's sisters discovered that Raven was dating someone new and they actually called Vanessa and told her to get out now. I mean, I bet that really, really terrified her. But Vanessa and Raven continued to date and actually got engaged. She did start to realise that Raven might not be as good as he seemed. However, according to the Crime Junkie podcast, on the day of her bridal shower so like hen party Vanessa and Raven got into an argument and he got really angry. He apparently said that he really wanted to hit her and he brought his arm up as though he was going to, but didn't actually make contact. I cannot imagine how scared she was, and I'm also sure that she probably felt a bit trapped, as they had a wedding planned, and she went through with it and married him in September 2008.
Speaker 1:So just three years after his wife was brutally murdered, raven was getting married again. Three years, that seems very quick. The marriage to Vanessa, however, only lasted four months, as she realised very quickly the mistake that she made. She told ABC that Raven could switch so quickly. He was verbally abusive to her and physically abusive as well. She talked about an occasion where they were arguing. He pushed her against the wall and she fell. Later he tried to tell her that she had tripped over. So, after four months of marriage, not only did Vanessa know that she had made a mistake, she also believed that he had killed his wife and Vanessa got the hell away from him. Years were still passing, with no justice or progress in the investigation of who killed Janet. Janet's sisters went on ABC to vent their frustrations at the lack of progress and also talk about their concerns about Raven and any woman who gets into a relationship with him.
Speaker 1:Now, maybe because of this publicity or maybe it was just coincidence, but it was this point around 2009 that a new detective called Charles Soule was assigned to the case. The new detective started from scratch. He reviewed all the evidence and found something that he thought the previous detectives had missed. According to the Cinemaholic website, he found that it was quote odd that Janet's contact lens case seemed to be kept partially open in a way that suggested it was empty. Upon speaking to her family, he found out that Janet was very meticulous about removing her lenses before going to sleep, which is what she was apparently getting ready to do as Raven stepped out that night. This was in stark contradiction to what Raven had stated earlier. So, effectively, this contact lens evidence was important because Raven had said on the night that she was killed that Janet had got ready for bed before he left that night to go and play football. He left her in bed watching TV, having completed her bedtime ritual presumably, so part of that bedtime ritual was obviously taking her contact lenses out and putting them into the case. So if she hadn't done that and the contact lens case was empty, then it suggests that Raven was lying about the timings and occurrences on that night.
Speaker 1:In 2010, based on this new evidence, raven was arrested for the murder of Janet and was extradited back to North Carolina to face trial, and after this point, janet's body was actually exhumed and they found evidence of contact lenses still on her eyes. The police thought this confirmed that Raven had lied and actually that Janet might have been killed earlier, before he left. Now sometimes this case is referred to the case that contact lens is solved, and this is why, because of this new evidence so a few years later, raven faced trial for the murder of Janet in 2013, so he actually spent quite a lot of time on remand before he faced trial. Now, although the prosecution did believe that he killed Janet, they were honest and said that their evidence was quite circumstantial. They talked about his infidelity, his financial issues, the fact that he lied about the events of that night, and they also talked about how quickly he claimed on Janet's life insurance and left Durham. Vanessa testified at the trial, as did that former co-worker testifying about Raven's unwanted sexual advances. But there were a couple of pieces of evidence on the defence's side, as the footprint and fingerprint that police found at the scene couldn't conclusively be linked to Raven. Now, when the jury went out to, they actually couldn't agree on a decision. They were deadlocked on 11 to 1 for guilty and the judge declared a mistrial.
Speaker 1:A second trial was scheduled for March 2014, but a week before he was due in court, raven entered something called an Alford plea. Raven entered something called an Alford plea. Now, according to the Crime Junkie podcast, an Alford plea is basically where a defendant maintains their innocence but admits that there is enough evidence to potentially convict them. So hashtag guilty, not guilty. The Alford plea is named after Henry Alford, who was charged with first degree murder in the 1960s. I've actually included a link in the episode notes if you want to find out more about him in the history of this.
Speaker 1:But after raven entered this alfred plea, he was convicted of janet's murder and sentenced to a very specific 95 to 123 months in prison. He had already spent four years in prison awaiting trial, so that was sort of taken into consideration when he was sentenced. After Raven was convicted, janet family issued a statement quote with this plea agreement. Today, raven has finally admitted, after almost nine years, that he did in fact kill our beloved Janet. Not only did he kill Janet, but knowingly killed his unborn child. No amount of jail time will ever provide justice for Janet or her unborn child. Raven was released from prison just a few years later, on Christmas day in 2017. He apparently now still lives in Utah. As for his and Janet's baby, caden, I've found some sources that say he lives with Janet's family and some that say he lives with Raven's parents, so I'm not 100% sure where he grew up, but I really hope that he has all the support that he needs.
Speaker 1:This episode is dedicated to Janet Abaroa and her unborn child, to their young lives taken too soon, and to the love and joy she brought to her family, friends and community. We remember them. This has been killer in the family podcast written and produced by me, claire Laxton. I'll be back next week with a new episode. Don't forget to send me any comments or questions to my insta at killerinthefamilypod, or through a text via a link in the episode notes. Do let me know any stories you'd like me to cover as well, and don't forget that you can buy me a coffee if you like the podcast and help support its running. The link's in the episode notes and thanks so much to everyone for your support so far. Until then, no-transcript.
