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Adolescence is a time full of change; it’s also an exciting time when romantic interests begin. Statistics show that high school relationships typically last about 6 months for 16-year-olds & about one year for 17 & 18-year-olds. Dating in high school is often a learning experience on how to communicate with a partner, navigate through resolving minor conflicts & dealing with heartache & breakups for the very first time. According to statistics, only 2% of people end up marrying their high school sweetheart since most relationships are over shortly after graduation.
Very few people can say that they met their spouse as young as 12-years-old since the vast majority of us will enter adult life & leave their first love behind. However, this wasn’t the case for Kelly & James Robarge, who met at the tender age of twelve. The couple went on to get married ten years later in the early 1990s when they were about 22-years-old. Sadly, their relationship wasn’t a smooth one & many described it as volatile.
The couple lived in Charlestown, New Hampshire & Kelly worked as an orthodontic assistant at a dental office in Springfield, Vermont, about a sixteen minute drive from their home. According to court documents, Kelly had been working two jobs over the previous eight years to keep her family afloat while James didn’t work at all. During their 24 years of marriage, Kelly & Jim had two daughters together & as of 2013, Ciera was 21 & Gabriel was 25.
According to her obituary, Kelly was a lover of the outdoors whether it be going to the beach or riding her motorcycle. But of all else, her favorite thing was spending time with her grandson.
Moving forward to 2012 & Kelly told her primary care provider that her relationship with her husband was abusive, but at the time, she elaborated that she wasn’t yet ready to leave James. However by the spring of 2013, she told this same provider that she was separating from James & she worried about how he might react. According to Kelly, they’d recently gotten into what she described as a pushing contest.
Kelly & James’ adult daughters indicated that fighting was common between their parents & sometimes escalated to the point that things turned physical. Gabriel recalled hearing her father say on occasion that if he couldn’t have Kelly then nobody can. During one particular argument between her parents, Gabriel recalled seeing her father shove her mother into a wall. James told one of his daughters that their mom was having & affair & planned to take both the house & the truck in the divorce. Kelly also told her friend that James would threaten to kill her by putting her into a wood splitter if they separated & she filed for divorce.
In April 2013, 42-year-olds Kelly & James ended up separating & during this time, Kelly remained in the family home at 124 Happy Acres Road in Charlestown, New Hampshire with their daughter, 21-year-old Ciera, while James relocated to his step-father’s home in Saxtons River, Vermont. 20 minutes away. Regardless of the separation, James often stopped by the family home to drop their dog off & continue to do work around the house. Kelly tried to avoid face-to-face interaction with James whenever possible & frequently communicated with him by leaving him notes.
On Wednesday, June 26, 2013 Kelly left James a note that read:
Jim, I have a proposal for you. I want a divorce & this is what I’m offering so we don’t have to go to court. This way we can just sign papers. Everything can still stay here, you can still come here to get & use your stuff. The dog is always welcome in & out. It’s a piece of paper that changes the same piece of paper that got us here.
I still love you, always will. I do miss you, but I can’t live with the drinking & pot anymore. The anger is too much for me. I still want you in my life if you want to be.
With the note, Kelly also included a proposal for dividing the property; she said he could have his Jetta, Jeep, motorcycle, pool table, tools, half of the dishes & towels & the land on Acworth Road they formerly called home. James took the note & placed it in a lockbox that he kept at his dad’s house.
Sometime during that same month James told a friend about his separation from Kelly & made the statement that she kicked him out & he wanted to kill her.
On Thursday, June 27, 2013, the day after James came across Kelly’s note, Kelly went to see her primary care provider & during the visit, she mentioned that she was going to file for divorce later that day. From her doctor’s office, she headed to the circuit court in Claremont & at 10:44 am, she filed for divorce after 24 years of marriage. During her time at the courthouse, she also sent an e-mail to her friends, Lori Laird & Richard Lucius, about the fact that she’d just filed for divorce.
At about 11 am, Kelly texted Lori & messaged Richard through Facebook, letting them know that she was back at her home in Charlestown & Jim was there. She texted Laurie, He’s here. When Lori asked if he knew about the divorce filing, Kelly responded, Not yet. I’m gonna tell him. This was the last message Lori received from Kelly.
At about 1:30 pm, Kelly’s neighbor recalled hearing a man & a woman yelling at each other with the sounds coming from Kelly’s house, but the man was doing the majority of the yelling. This went on for the entire ten minutes that the neighbor was outside.
At 2:40 pm, an hour & ten minutes after the neighbor heard the arguing, Jim texted Ciera, asking if she knew where her mom was. When she arrived at her mom’s house about an hour later, she saw her dad sitting on the porch wearing jean shorts, sneakers & no shirt while her toddler nephew, who was Jim & Kelly’s grandson, was crying.
Ciera saw that her mom’s car was there as well as her purse & car keys, but her cell phone was missing. Kelly routinely took care of her grandson & the family agreed that she would have never left him alone. During her time there, her dad left the house in his car, indicating that he was heading out to look for Kelly. Ciera reached out to family & friends about the fact that her mom was missing & one of them contacted the police at 4:34 pm to report Kelly missing.
As Ciera looked around the house, she noticed that both the staircase bannister & the light fixture were broken despite the fact that both things had been intact when she left for work earlier that morning. There was also damage to part of the front door. As family members began arriving at the house, Ciera went into the bathroom & discovered that the toilet was drenched in blood. When her sister came home, she indicated that she could smell the odor of cleaning products in the house.
By 5:50 pm, the police had arrived at Kelly’s home & meanwhile, Jim called one of his daughters & told her that his car had broken down near Unity, about twenty minutes from Kelly’s house.
In the meantime, Claremont police officer Eric Fosterling received a be on the lookout alert for James Robarge & his black Jetta. Not long after, he saw a shirtless man walking down the Second New Hampshire Turnpike. When they stopped, the officer & the trooper each smelled beer on Jim’s breath & described his demeanor as very nervous while his eyes were bloodshot & glossy. When he was asked about his shirt or lack thereof, he indicated he hadn’t worn a shirt that day.
Both the officer & the trooper noticed that Jim also had scratches on his body as well as his hands which looked red & appeared to be fresh; there were two to three parallel abrasions down his neck as well as an abrasion on his left chest & two parallel scratch marks to one side of his torso. There was also a significant amount of blood on the inner right side of one of his shoes as well as fresh blood on his shorts.
Jim explained that his car had broken down up the road while he was out looking for his wife who was missing. After they located the car, the driver’s seat appeared to be very wet while there was a green t-shirt on the back seat that was also soaking wet. Two towels were also in the car in a pile & appeared to be stained with blood. Between the towels was an orange plastic-coated cord that was knotted in several places & stained with blood. The car gave off a strong odor of burnt motor oil.
Jim agreed to be taken down to the Claremont Police Department for an interview & while he was there, he remained nervous & fidgety. All of the knuckles of his right hand were clearly swollen & red & when he got up to use the restroom, an officer heard sounds of Jim attempting to clean something. When he came out of the restroom, the blood that had previously been on the inner side of his shoe was no longer there. Regardless, the trooper saw that blood remained on the back side of both of his shoes.
During the interview, Jim told investigators that the last time he saw Kelly was one day earlier at about 5:30 pm when he’d been at the house to install a door. He said he had absolutely no idea as to where Kelly had gone, but when he arrived at the home on Wednesday, the very day she just so happened to file for divorce, he found their grandson alone while two of their dogs were fighting. According to Jim, the injuries on his hands, arms & torso happened when he got in between two of his five German shepherds in order to break up the fight.
Despite the fact that they were separated & living in two different homes, Jim told investigators that he didn’t believe that divorce was on the horizon. About a month earlier, Kelly mentioned that she was going to file the paperwork, but he’d yet to be served the papers.
After the interview, Jim was told that he was not free to leave, yet he ran about a quarter mile from the station & cornered himself within a section of buildings. He was apprehended after an officer chased him. He was brought back to the station though he was released on June 28 while the investigation continued & police obtained search warrants.
Four days later on July 2, Jim contacted Rockingham Medical Group to make an appointment to see a mental health worker later that day. He told the employee that he was likely to become violent & hurt himself or others & mentioned that he was involved in a missing person investigation. This call was reported to authorities & Bellows Falls officers as well as Vermont state troopers found Jim driving on Route 121 toward Bellows Falls. He initially stopped, but then sped away & began driving 50 mph in a 25 mph zone. As he pulled into an urgent care facility, a woman & her children had to jump out of the way to avoid getting hit.
After Jim fled into the building, police tackled him & took him into custody. He was driving his stepfather’s car at the time who gave consent to search the vehicle. Officers found a letter on the driver’s side visor that was written by Kelly regarding their divorce. He was charged with being a fugitive from justice & held at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield, Vermont.
That same day, he was interviewed a second time & admitted that he’d received the note that Kelly left him on June 26 regarding her plans to file for divorce, something he previously denied being aware of.
Nine days after Kelly vanished under highly suspicious circumstances, her badly decomposed, animal ravaged body was found with her head & hands detached in a heavily wooded area near a drivable trail off Britton Road in Unity which was less than two miles from where Jim’s car had broken down on a trail that led to Kelly’s body. Her body was identified through dental records as well as a distinctive tattoo of a hummingbird & flowers.
Testing from the blood found on Jim’s shorts, sock & shoes contained Kelly’s DNA. Based on the pattern of the bloodstains, an expert concluded that Jim had been present when Kelly’s blood was shed due to blunt force trauma. The trauma could have been a result of a beating from a fist, an elbow or a kick.
Kelly’s DNA was also located in bloodstains that were found in the area of the front door of her home as well as the bathroom. Analysis of the blood located near the front door was consistent with her being struck in that location at least three times while areas in the bathroom appeared to have been recently cleaned. Outside, investigators found drag marks in the driveway.
About thirty-six feet from Jim’s car, police found a mat that fit into his car’s trunk which had a sizable amount of blood on it & contained Kelly’s DNA. To the right of the mat, police found a green blanket, a light-colored towel & a speaker wire, all of which tested positive for blood & also contained Kelly’s DNA. Lab testing proved that the speaker wire originated from inside the trunk.
When Jim’s car was examined, it was found to have no oil in it & its oil pan was shattered. Near where Kelly’s body was found, investigators noted dark streaks that both looked & smelled like oil. The oil streak began at a rock that was near a pothole as well as metal fragments that proved to come from the hole in the oil pan.
With these findings, Jim was indicted on alternative counts of first & second-degree murder. The first-degree indictment alleged that Jim purposely caused Kelly’s death by inflicting trauma to her body while the second-degree murder indictment alleged that he recklessly caused Kelly’s death by inflicting trauma to her body under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life. He was held behind bars until his trial.
Because of the extent of decomposition, a medical examiner could not determine the exact cause of Kelly’s death, but concluded that she died as a result of homicidal violence from undetermined means. Her autopsy proved she had not suffered from any severe trauma to her skull or facial bones.
The trial began on January 14, 2015 in Sullivan County Superior Court in Newport, New Hampshire & Jim maintained that he was innocent. Jurors started with a tour of key locations in the case that included the couple’s former home in Charlestown & a logging road in Unity where Kelly’s body was located.
21-year-old Ciera Robarge, Jim & Kelly’s daughter, testified that she saw her mom sleeping in her bedroom as she was getting ready to leave for her 6 am shift at Walmart. She didn’t communicate with her mom since it was so early & she was sleeping, but received texts from her dad that afternoon. In one text, he asked her what time she was getting off work & in another, he asked where her mom was.
She elaborated that despite the fact that her mom’s car, keys & purse were at the house, she was nowhere to be found. A switch plate by the front door was broken & a sizable chunk from the staircase handrail was missing. The water within the toilet bowl was also bloody, all of which suggested a violent struggle had occurred inside the home. Ciera also identified the green blanket that was found alongside her dad’s broken down car as one that her mom routinely kept on the back of the couch.
Ciera discussed the fact that she was angry about the fact that her parents often put her in the middle of their frequent arguments & occasional shoving matches.
Kelly & Jim’s older daughter, 25-year-old Gabriel Robarge Pellerin testified that her mom often threatened her father with divorce during their arguments, but she never thought she’d actually follow through with it. She also indicated that during a fight between her parents in 2012, her dad shoved her mom into a wall & Gabriel ordered her dad to leave. She did admit that her mom sometimes initiated their physical altercations. She said that she was close with her mom, but not her dad. Gabriel testified that when her mom would threaten divorce during a fight, her dad would tell her that if he couldn’t have her, then nobody could.
Kelly’s physician assistant, Frances Uptegrove, testified that Kelly had been seen during various office visits where she expressed she was dealing with anxiety & depression as a result of her marriage & discussed the fact her relationship was abusive. During her visit on the last day that Kelly was ever seen alive, she voiced feelings of anxiety & loneliness & mentioned that she was heading to file for divorce after her appointment. According to Frances, she seemed clear-headed & determined during the visit.
While Kelly was next at the family court in Claremont, she handed over the divorce petition while surveillance video depicted her 18-month old grandson toddling around her. According to the clerk, Kelly appeared relatively calm & only wanted the divorce to be behind her.
A Unity man, Leon Morin, testified that he was driving home from work just before 6 pm on June 27 when he noticed a dark-colored Jetta parked in the turnoff. As he looked closer, he saw a man wearing latex gloves, crouched down near the headlight on the passenger side of the car. He went to police on June 29 to report what he saw & on July 2, 2013, when he saw footage on local TV of Jim entering a Vermont courtroom, he immediately knew that was the man he’d seen by the Jetta.
Jurors were shown the blood spatter throughout the entrance of the home as well as around Jim’s car. Prosecutor Diana Fenton indicated that in a fit of rage, Jim beat his wife to death & then dumped her out in the woods like a piece of trash. Meanwhile they presented overwhelming evidence that included cell phone records as well as his blood-stained clothing while the medical examiner testified that a scratch on his left index finger was consistent with someone trying to pry hands off their neck while being strangled.
Kelly’s close friend, Lori Laird, testified about the text message she’d received from Kelly indicating that Jim was at the house with her & she planned to tell him about the divorce papers. Again, this was the last text she ever received from her friend & this is in contrast to what Jim told investigators, that the last time he was at the house, Kelly was not there.
When Jim testified in his own defense over the course of two days he showed no emotion while he remained adamant that he did not kill his wife. He said he had no idea how fragments from his car’s oil pan wound up on the remote logging road where his wife’s body just happened to be found. According to Jim, when he got to the house sometime before 3 pm, he found his 18-month-old grandson crying on the couch in the family room while two of their German shepherds were fighting, but there was no sign of Kelly. He disputed cell phone records that proved he had been at the house between 11:04 am-4pm despite the fact that this was in line with the text Kelly sent Lori just at 11:19 am, indicating that Jim was at the house. During his testimony, he acknowledged that he didn’t want to lose his house or his family to divorce.
While Jim maintained that the visible wounds to his body were a result of him breaking up a fight between two of his five German shepherds, Senior Assistant Attorney General Susan Morell reminded jurors that these dogs were extremely protective & would not have allowed a stranger to enter the home.
The defense argued, James Robarge is an innocent man & he did not kill Kelly. Speculation is not proof & it does not resolve doubt.
After deliberating for more than 12 hours over a course of three days, James Robarge was found guilty of second-degree murder & sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.
The couple’s daughters, Ciera & Gabriel tearfully spoke about the grief of losing their mother & also spoke of the loss of their father as a result of what he’d done.
Jim filed an appeal arguing that cell phone records shouldn’t have been admitted as evidence of his & Kelly’s location on the day of the murder. He also objected to jurors having been shown a photo of the tattoo on his torso that states, LOVE Kills Slowly as well as jurors being told that he previously threatened to kill his wife because her hair was too short. However, he lost the appeal & in 2017 the court upheld his conviction.
References:
- OnlineDivorce: What percent of high school relationships last? Statistics & facts
- WMUR 9 abc: Last hours of victim’s life portrayed in words, video at Robarge trial
- The Keene Sentinel: Prosecutors continue to lay out evidence in Robarge murder trial
- Burlington Free Press: Daughter at trial: if dad couldn’t have mom, nobody could
- Rutland Herald: James Robarge takes stand in murder trial
- Brattleboro Reformer: Police detail evidence in N.H. murder case
- The Keene Sentinel: Kelly J. Robarge
- The Keene Sentinel: Many questions remain about the circumstances of Kelly Robarge’s death
- Burlington Free Press: Man convicted of killing wife gets 30 years to life
- WCVB 5 abc: Case of man charged with killing wife goes to jury
- The State of New Hampshire Supreme Court: State of New Hampshire v. James Robarge
- AP: Court upholds man’s conviction in wife’s death
