Disappearing Act aka When He Didn't Come Home is a True Story

This story is based on the murder of David Richmond by his fiance Michelle Ashley Roger.

Michele Ashley Roger the real Carolyn Blair

David Richmond the real Timothy Dolan

Thanks so much for your tips. This one was submitted to me from a reader. Upon researching it further and confirming that this was the basis, I am now posting it. Thanks so much guys!!!

Plot: A mother (Patty Duke) goes to Chicago to try to find her son (Robert Floyd) who has suddenly quit contacting her and can't be reached.

Reality: On September 6, 1992, in the early morning hours, Michele Roger brutally murdered David A. Richmond, her lover. Roger stabbed Richmond while he was sleeping, because she wanted to terminate their relationship. After stabbing him at least 2 additional times while they struggled, Roger, not knowing whether he was alive or not, left their home to go to her parents, where they cleaned her up and discussed what to do over coffee. Roger and her father returned to the condo to find that Richmond was "no longer alive".
During the daylight hours of the 6th of September, the Roger family removed Richmond's body by wrapping it in bloody carpeting cut from their bedroom floor. The body was then burned, the remains mixed with cement, and the the hardened result dumped into the Atlantic Ocean, from their boat, by Mr. Roger and his son.
Michele Roger is currently serving a 17 year sentence in the Florida Correctional System, for the murder of David Richmond. Roger is eligible for release from prison in the year 2006.


Michele Roger's 17-year prison sentence was commuted to probation Monday.

Ms. Roger, 32, was convicted four years ago of second-degree murder in the 1992 killing of her live-in boyfriend, David Richmond, 28. Roger was formerly from Oviedo, 13 miles northeast of Orlando.

Roger's father and brother confessed to burning the body, mixing it with cement and dumping it in the ocean. They each received two years of probation. Richmond's body was never found.

Secretary of State Sandra Mortham signed the clemency papers late Monday, just hours before she was scheduled to leave office Tuesday after losing her re-election bid last year.

Mortham said she decided to support clemency after receiving a letter from Roger's attorney, Mark O'Mara, outlining his client's assertions that she was a victim of abuse.

Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles signed Roger's clemency authorization before his death last month. Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson and Agriculture Commissioner Bob Crawford also signed, but Roger needed one more Cabinet member to sign off on the papers.

O'Mara said he didn't expect to gain support to free Roger from the new governor, Republican Jeb Bush, who takes office Tuesday.

"I'm elated," O'Mara said. "I still firmly believe - as the polygraph indicated - she only did what she did out of self-defense."

Roger has been serving her sentence at the Broward Correctional Institution.

"It appears as if there is a societal trend to grant clemency to women who claim abuse," said Steve Plotnick, who prosecuted Roger.

Six other women who claimed "battered women's syndrome" as the reason they committed murder were released from prison Dec. 29 after they were granted clemency.

Tidbits

This happned in condominium in Oviedo, a town in central Florida

David was missing for over a year.

They fought often over her job as a topless dancer at Cabaret Internationale and other clubs

Trial Testimonies

Michelle testified that David was abusive to her, and that he had come after her "with a fruit knife after he tried to push her face onto a hot burner and hit her." (Orlando Sentinel, Beth Taylor, 1994)

Agnes Roger, Michelle's mother "claimed" she saw David put his finger in her nostrils, pull her hair, and bite on her lips.

In 1999 Michele won clemency and had her 17 year sentence commuted to probation.

"She hopes to raise dogs for the visually impaired and wants to study to be a veterinary assistant," her mother, Agnes Roger of Oviedo, wrote in a letter to then-Gov. Lawton Chiles in September. "My daughter will be living at home with me and my husband." (Orlando Sentinel, Rene Struzman 1999)

Boyfriend Murdered Husband Murdered

Here are a few more cases of wives have murdered their husbands or women who have murdered their boyfriends. that are similar to the story above. These cases are not associated with the movie or the story above on which the movie is based.

Jan. 16, 1996 Young County, Texas

Casey Roy Elliott, 27, was reported missing by his family. An investigation led the police to the home of his girlfriend, 41 year old, Helen Moore. Elliott was living with his girlfriend Casey and her two young sons at the time of his disappearance.

When they questioned the girlfriend they noticed blood stains on the wooden porch. Helen Moore said that the blood came from a pig that had been killed. They asked if they could come inside the home to check things out, and she agreed. The floor inside the home looked as though the carpet was removed. She said they had a fight about the carpet, and that she decided to burn the carpet because her boyfriend said that she was a bad housekeeper. After that he was angry and stormed out. Police then got a call about some possible human remains that had been found in some prairie grass. An examination of the scene indicated that the body had been moved to that location. An autopsy found traces of morphine in the body. His body was finally identified through a paternity test. Police went back to the house to ask questions about the pig. They took blood samples. The blood samples proved that the blood was from a pig and not a human being.

The police later learned that there was an insurance policy taken out on her boyfriend. Helen Moore was arrested and charged with murder. Forensic investigators used luminol to check for blood at the ranch, but Moore had used bleach to scrub the house clean. During the interrogation the police made it clear that the state would seek the death penalty for the murder. When Helen realized that she might be getting the death penalty, she confessed to the murder.

The Murder According to Helen
Casey had complained of back pain so she gave him a lethal dose of morphine. She then decided to get rid of the body, but he was a 300 pound cowboy who was almost impossible to move. So she attached the body to a lasso, and then attached the lasso to her truck. She backed the truck up near the front entrance of the ranch, and pulled his body out of the house dragging it so that she could load it onto the trailer. She eventually butchered the parts and scattered them around three different counties to make identification impossible. She was sentenced to life in prison.

Tidbits
The case is referred to as the Cowboy Murder Case. Friends and family described the 300 pound cowboy as a gentle giant who wouldn't hurt anyone.