On a cool October morning in Richmond, Virginia, gunshots shattered the silence of the quiet suburban street where Fred Jablin lived with his two children. Fred, a respected professor and devoted father, had just stepped outside to grab his morning newspaper—something he did every day. But this day would be his last. Oblivious to the danger, he was ambushed in his own front yard as his children slept upstairs.

Join us for Murder in the Suburbs. As investigators searched for suspects and motivations for Fred’s murder, the name Piper Rountree came up again and again. Piper was Fred’s ex-wife. Their bitter divorce and custody battle had ended years earlier, but her resentment and hatred endured. Did Piper, a mother of three and former attorney, travel across state lines to execute her ex-husband. Today, we unravel this story of love turned lethal—the murder of Fred Jablin.

Sources

Die, My Love by Katherine Casey

Piper Ann Rountree v. Commonwealth of Virginia, Court of Appeals, 7/24/2007.

Piper Rountree gets life: She will be eligible for release after she turns 60, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 5/7/2005.

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