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Robin Row Murders Her Family

In 1992, 35-year-old Robin Row was separated from her husband, 34-year-old Randy Row.

She stayed with her friend Joan while her husband lived in their Boise, Idaho apartment with Robin’s children from a prior relationship, 10-year-old Joshua and 8-year-old Tabitha.

In the early morning of February 10th, 1992, Robin went to her former residence and lit it on fire with her husband and children inside.

All three died due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Investigators later learned that the smoke detector had been turned off.

Investigation

Police started to look into Robin’s past and learned that her 15-month-old daughter died in New Hampshire in 1975. The girl’s cause of death was listed as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, also known as SIDS.

In 1980, her 6-year-old son Keith died in a fire when they were staying at a friend’s cabin. Investigators believe the fire was caused by his blanket getting too close to a space heater. The room he died in was locked, so he had no chance to escape.

Robin collected twenty-eight thousand dollars from life insurance after her son’s death in 1980.

Detectives also learned she was a thief embezzling money from the YWCA where she worked.

Further investigation revealed she had six insurance policies on her husband and kids worth over a quarter million dollars. She took out the most recent policy seventeen days before the three were killed.

She was arrested three days after her family perished for grand theft related to her illegal activities at the YWCA.

Five weeks later, police had enough evidence to arrest her for three counts of murder and aggravated arson.

Trial

At her March 1993 trial, she was convicted of 3 counts of first-degree murder and arson charges. Judge Alan Schwartzmann sentenced her to death on December 16th, 1993.

The now 68-year-old is the only woman in Idaho’s on death row.

Idaho Changes It’s Primary Execution Method