Worth More Dead: And Other True Cases (40 page)

Perhaps not. But Bob Durall had told some of his other women that Carolyn would be “better off dead” and that his life would “be easier if she were dead.” He had sighed that he couldn’t bear the thought of her raising their children even part of the time.

The jury stayed out only two hours. When they returned, they announced that they had found Bob Durall guilty of First Degree Murder. It was August 6, 2000, exactly two years after Carolyn Durall died.

Jeff Baird spoke to several jurors after they were dismissed. They were curious about one aspect of the case. How had the police known where Carolyn’s body was? Now that it was over, he was able to reveal that Bob Durall led them to it and that the State had stuck to its agreement not to introduce that detail during his trial.

Carolyn’s family, friends, and coworkers hugged each other. They knew they could never have a truly happy ending, but her boss, Roseann Watson, could say, “We wish we could bring her back, but at least he didn’t win this one.”

On October 6, 2000, Robert Durall appeared in Judge Deborah Fleck’s courtroom for sentencing. He had shown no feelings during his trial. But now in the sentencing phase, video images of Carolyn brought her back to life one more time. She was there on the screen as music played. There was Carolyn on horseback, showing her skill as she gracefully controlled her beloved horses. There she was ice-skating, pregnant with their babies, cooking in her kitchen, hugging her children, laughing with her family. There was Carolyn with Bob and Denise and Gary. There was Bob’s hand resting protectively on his wife’s shoulder.

For the first time, the prisoner’s eyes filled with tears. Was he weeping for her or for himself?

Judge Fleck looked at him with disdain. She remarked that he was a man with an education, a church leader, one who was flourishing in his job and well thought of by his community, but also one who was typical of abusers—apparently successful men who dominate their partners with psychological abuse and intimidation. The murder he committed was an example of “aggravated domestic violence, preceded by a pattern of psychological abuse.”

The judge was not impressed with him, and characterized him as a “sniveler” by his behavior during the trial. He might have gone into her courtroom expecting a twenty-six-to thirty-year sentence, but Judge Fleck delivered an exceptional sentence. He would spend forty-six years and eight months in prison for the premeditated murder of the wife who had sought only freedom.

“Freeedom,” the web prowler, had lost his. At 43, he was headed for a cell.

Carolyn and Bob’s children live with her parents in another state, and their last name is no longer Durall. Nor is that name on her gravestone. The children are doing well, as well as they can, given their great loss at a tender age. They see their old friends and are exceptionally gifted. Carolyn’s children can look at the memory books her friends made for them so that they will always know who their mother was.

The family that raised Bob so lovingly suffered, too, and no one blames them for what he became. But nothing, of course, will ever be the same.

Whenever those who loved Carolyn see a butterfly, they think of her. They can be proud that they did their very best to find her and to be sure that her killer is paying for the loss of her life.

WORTH MORE DEAD

Roland Pitre, 22, a U.S. Marine stationed in Iwakuni, Japan, 1974. He was a joker and something of a liar, but his buddies liked him well enough. He was already skilled at martial arts.