Just after sunrise on October 30, 2004, police in a Richmond, Virginia suburb responded after a neighbor walking his dogs discovered the body of 52-year-old University of Richmond professor Dr. Fred Jablin lying in his driveway. He’d been shot multiple times as he went outside to grab his newspaper, 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 Rountree. Their marriage had been volatile, their divorce bitter, and their custody battle filled with accusations that seemed 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 Jablin’s murder wasn’t just about one act of violence - it was about everything that led to it.
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