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Collision Course

October 13, 2012 7:45 PM

A car crash leaves a young Iraq veteran dead, but her boyfriend alive. The crash didn't kill her, what did? Susan Spencer reports.

Was young Airman's death a tragic accident or murder?
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by bananabear2000 May 14, 2013 10:52 PM EDT
It is so obvious he is lieing, his lies are ridiculous! How would elena even have known they thought it wasn't an accident to even confront him on that....he was obviously bragging to her trying to scare her when she angered him. No doubt in my mind he would have eventually killed her too.
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by n1n1n12 March 17, 2013 4:27 AM EDT
this case proves one thing about human: the human's mind is so complex. The guy's two worst mistakes are 1. to spill his own secret. and 2. to not kill that elena, who proves to be most complex and an untrustworthy person. But the guy himself surely is a psychopath...creepy all around..
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by coopk March 16, 2013 11:09 PM EDT
I haven't heard so many lies out of one persons mouth. Robbie is disgusting and I hope he is getting raped everyday twice a day in jail.
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by carriebuczala March 10, 2013 7:17 AM EDT
This guy is such a liar, i am disgusted and appalled that he even thinks he sounds believable!
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by 10finetoes February 4, 2013 3:19 PM EST
FINALLY a likable detective! Bless him for not disregarding his intuition and not giving up.
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by thecrimewatcher January 17, 2013 2:33 PM EST
this Robbie guy is scary
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by sarahblack1111 January 3, 2013 7:54 PM EST
I think this episode needs to be an eye-opener to parents out there. Dads-don't raise your daughters to take their clothes off and to define themselves by their sexuality. Raise them to respect themselves and their body. Get to know the men in their life in detail. Almost every girl who gets attracted to this kind of psycho mess (Robbie Walters)has either an absentee father or one she had issues with. Sometimes parents create an image of their kid, like this case as a tough girl...that they get afraid to come to their parents with fears or issues because they don't want to go against that image you have created of them.
This guy clearly did it, no doubt at all like I have when watching some of these shows. He is scary in just how psychotic he is and his eyes reflect that. Hard to believe that two women (at least ) fell for it! But sadly they did and one paid for it with her life.
The person my heart broke the most for in this episode was Brittney's brother. So much sadness in his eyes.
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by RockyMtnRider December 14, 2012 5:06 PM EST
I was actually a juror on this case and there is hardly a day that goes by that I don't think about this. I have "Robert Walters" as a Google Alert. I created the alert because I wanted to know if he ever tried to appeal the conviction, got the case retried, or otherwise got out of the sentence. So I get a daily reminder of this case in the form of an email. Generally those emails are about a staffing firm or a different individual with the name of Robert Walters. However, when I got an email this past Fall indicating that 48 hours had done a special on the case...and for some reason it made me a bit nervous. I have no idea why, I already new the outcome. I immediately came to this page, but I couldn't make myself watch the episode. I'm not sure why because I was curious what the show included, but I just wasn't ready to watch it yet.

Well, I guess I finally decided it was time to watch it today - maybe it was the weird state of mind I was already in hearing about the mass shooting in CT. I don't know? But for some reason, I decided to watch it today. It was a bit surreal and a lot of the emotion we went through during the trial came back in and I can still vividly remember seeing Robbie sitting at the defense table and his facial reactions at different points throughout the trial...some of the smugness even came across on the video.

Without going into detail of the jury deliberations, I am comfortable we were all 100% confident in finding Robbie guilty of murder without any hesitation. As for the solicitation charge, I think all of us, or at least the overwhelming majority, believed that Robbie was planning some devious act for Elena to prevent her from testifying. I personally believed he was wanting to have her murdered. Regardless, there was absolutely no way he was looking for "bail" as the defense claimed. However, we couldn't say that he was looking to have her murdered beyond a reasonable doubt because it could've been an abduction, or something else along those lines. So that is why the jury ended up finding him not guilty on that charge. It was a very tough decision because my heart and mind told me he was getting away with the crime, but unfortunately the evidence didn't add up to supporting the conviction beyond a reasonable doubt. We were relieved after the verdict was read and the judge came back to the jury room and told us that he was still going to be getting life without the possibility of parole, so I think we were all happy that it didn't impact his sentencing.

This has been such a life changing event...even as a juror. However, as a juror on the trial and seeing all the evidence, I can rest easier knowing that we made the right decision because there is no doubt in my mind that Robbie murdered Brittany that night.
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by deannef December 6, 2012 2:04 AM EST
I've rarely seen anyone with such frightening, devious eyes. No doubt in my mind he is dangerous and psychopathic.
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by DANIEL4860 November 25, 2012 1:48 AM EST
I know Robert as a young man and his family. They are good, ordinary family. I tried not have a bias in watching the show but I noticed that none of his family was featured to say their side of the story.
I also watched Elena's testimony and sounded like a script being rehearsed. Another thing is the situation of recording, a confession of murder. Who in their right mind would do such? And they way he was talking to her is not convincing that he did it. It seems that Elena is leading him to say something that would condemn him and he fell into the trap.
I surely don't want a person "not guilty" to be punished. There are people convicted and later found not guilty. Lost freedom and time.
Don't get me wrong. I am not 100% convinced that he is innocent. But the inconsistencies of evidence is not compelling enough to convict him.
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