Just after sunrise on October 30, 2004, police in a Richmond, Virginia suburb responded after a neighbor walking his dogs discovered the body

a 52-year-old University of Richmond professor, Dr. Fred Jablin, laying in his driveway.

He'd been shot multiple times as he went outside to grab his newspaper, which is something

he did every morning. Inside the house, officers found his three children, still asleep, unaware of what had happened

just beyond their front door. As police began to search the neighborhood for clues,

one name surfaced again and again, Fred's ex-wife, Piper Roundtree. Their marriage had been

volatile, their divorce bitter, and their custody battle filled with accusations that seem to have no end.

When detectives started tracing Piper's movements before and after the shooting,

they uncovered a series of bizarre and calculated choices.

Each one more unhinged than the last, and soon it became clear that the story of Fred

Javelin's murder wasn't just about one act of violence.

It was about everything that led to it.

Okay, so we're covering this case because it happened the day before Halloween.

We are in the Halloween time.

And because the victim, Fred, he loved Halloween.

He was the guy who went all out with decorations parties, the whole nine.

And that contrast, like the joy of the season against the reality of what happened at his driveway on

the eve of his favorite time of year, it makes the story hit harder right now. So that's why

we're talking about this. It's a, you know, kind of timely case. And there's a lot of stuff that

happened in this case that also gives it that sort of Halloween,

like what's hiding beneath the mask vibe.

So in order to understand what happened to the end, we have to go back to the beginning.

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