The Swindler

Janine Sutphen was a cellist living in Durham, North Carolina, with her husband, Robert “Rob” Petrick. On January 22, 2003, Petrick reported her missing, although her sons had not been able to reach her for about two weeks. Petrick’s version of that evening raised doubts, and when her car was found in a parking garage, the driver’s seat was pushed back for someone much taller than Janine.

As the investigation went on, detectives learned that Petrick had been draining his wife’s bank accounts. His computer held searches about how long a body stays at the bottom of a lake and maps of nearby lakes. On May 29, 2003, Janine’s body surfaced in Falls Lake, north of Durham. She had been wrapped in a sleeping bag and a tarp sealed with duct tape, with chains around her legs.

Petrick’s murder trial opened on October 31, 2005. A few weeks earlier he had given up his lawyers so he could represent himself, with standby counsel on hand. On November 29, 2005, the jury convicted him of first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. In November 2007, the North Carolina Court of Appeals turned down his arguments, including a challenge to his own waiver of counsel, and found no error.