Kristin Rossum
Encyclopedia
Kristin Margrethe Rossum (born October 25, 1976), is currently serving a life sentence in California for poison
ing her husband Greg deVillers with fentanyl she stole from her job and attempting to pass off his death as a suicide
.
; her parents, Ralph and Constance Rossum, were professors at Claremont McKenna College
. She has two younger brothers, Brent (b. 1979) and Pierce (b. 1986) In the 1990s, throughout Kristin's high school years, she used illegal drugs; her favorite was methamphetamine
. Her drug use caused considerable stress within the family. Rossum met her husband Greg in Tijuana, Mexico, and they married in 1999. After getting married, however, she had an affair with her Australian boss, Michael Robertson, beginning May or June 2000.
, and roses with baby's breath were also her favorite flowers. After Greg found out about her affair, he had threatened Kristin that he would expose her affair and her drug use to the Medical Examiner's Office if she did not quit her job. Michael learned of this threat before Greg was killed. Two weeks after her husband's death, Kristin was interrogated by the police. She told the detectives that her husband had been depressed before he died. Kristin's father stated that he seemed to be deeply distressed and that he drank wine and gin heavily that night. In a television interview months after her Greg's death, Rossum stated, "he was making a big deal of the last rose standing. I think he was just making a statement that he knew our relationship was over." She telephoned his office and told his employers that he would not be coming in to work the day of his murder. During the investigation, outsourced toxicology tests showed fentanyl in Greg's body and investigators found a large amount of fentanyl missing at the Medical Examiner's Office. Police believed that she stole the drug from work. While the investigation continued police learned a secret about Kristin, she was a regular methamphetamine
user. On June 25, 2001 seven months after Greg's death, Kristin was arrested and charged with murder. Her parents paid for her $1.25 million bail and picked her up from the San Diego jail.
and was taken back to the San Diego jail before she could be transferred to the Central California Women's Facility
in Chowchilla
, the largest women's correctional facility in the United States. At her sentencing, the judge ordered Rossum to pay a $10,000 fine.
In September 2010 a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that Rossum’s lawyers bungled her defense at the trial by not challenging the prosecution’s contention that her husband died from an overdose of the drug. The judges said that the defense should have tested de Villers’ autopsy samples for metabolites of fentanyl, which the body produces when the liver processes the drug. If no metabolites were found, it would show de Villers had not ingested fentanyl before his death, refuting the core of the prosecution’s case, the judges wrote. Instead, it would have raised the possibility that the fentanyl in his system was the result of contamination at the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office, they said. An expert Rossum hired as she appealed her conviction said the extremely high levels of fentanyl in de Villers system were inconsistent with other evidence in the case. Two other drugs were also found in de Villiers at the time of his death, clonazepam and oxycodone. While they were not measured in amounts where each would be fatal, the judges said there was testimony during Rossum’s trial that when taken in combination the drugs multiply the effects of each other. If he didn’t ingest the fentanyl while he was alive, having the two other drugs in combination would provide an alternative explanation of de Villers’ death for the defense, the court said. All of Rossums appeals in state court failed so she then turned to the federal court.
On September 13, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals withdrew its opinion and replaced it with a one-paragraph statement that under a new U.S. Supreme Court precedent Rossum's petition was denied.
, in E! Entertainment's "Women Who Kill," on Investigation Discovery's "Deadly Women" and in CBS News 48 Hours
TV series: American Beauty - Was It Murder Or Suicide?, Caitlin Rother, who was interviewed for the four shows, wrote Poisoned Love, a book about the case: ISBN 0786017147. Another book was also written on this case by John Glatt, Deadly American Beauty: ISBN 0312984197.
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
ing her husband Greg deVillers with fentanyl she stole from her job and attempting to pass off his death as a suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
.
Early life, education, and marriage
Rossum grew up in Claremont, CaliforniaClaremont, California
Claremont is a small affluent college town in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The population as of the 2010 census is 34,926. Claremont is known for its seven higher-education institutions, its...
; her parents, Ralph and Constance Rossum, were professors at Claremont McKenna College
Claremont McKenna College
Claremont McKenna College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college and a member of the Claremont Colleges located in Claremont, California. The campus is located east of Downtown Los Angeles...
. She has two younger brothers, Brent (b. 1979) and Pierce (b. 1986) In the 1990s, throughout Kristin's high school years, she used illegal drugs; her favorite was methamphetamine
Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...
. Her drug use caused considerable stress within the family. Rossum met her husband Greg in Tijuana, Mexico, and they married in 1999. After getting married, however, she had an affair with her Australian boss, Michael Robertson, beginning May or June 2000.
Murder
On November 6, 2000 at approximately 9:15 P.M., Kristin placed a call to 911. Paramedics walked into the apartment through the already open front door and saw Kristin on the phone in the middle of the living room. Greg was pronounced dead after paramedics took him to the hospital. To make his death look like a suicide, she sprinkled red rose petals over her husband's body and placed a wedding photo nearby. Ironically, this scene was similar to a scene from Rossum's favorite movie, American BeautyAmerican Beauty (film)
American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged magazine writer who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, Angela...
, and roses with baby's breath were also her favorite flowers. After Greg found out about her affair, he had threatened Kristin that he would expose her affair and her drug use to the Medical Examiner's Office if she did not quit her job. Michael learned of this threat before Greg was killed. Two weeks after her husband's death, Kristin was interrogated by the police. She told the detectives that her husband had been depressed before he died. Kristin's father stated that he seemed to be deeply distressed and that he drank wine and gin heavily that night. In a television interview months after her Greg's death, Rossum stated, "he was making a big deal of the last rose standing. I think he was just making a statement that he knew our relationship was over." She telephoned his office and told his employers that he would not be coming in to work the day of his murder. During the investigation, outsourced toxicology tests showed fentanyl in Greg's body and investigators found a large amount of fentanyl missing at the Medical Examiner's Office. Police believed that she stole the drug from work. While the investigation continued police learned a secret about Kristin, she was a regular methamphetamine
Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...
user. On June 25, 2001 seven months after Greg's death, Kristin was arrested and charged with murder. Her parents paid for her $1.25 million bail and picked her up from the San Diego jail.
Trial and conviction
At trial, Kristin’s attorneys tried to bolster their case by saying Greg was suicidal and poisoned himself. Kristin’s brother-in-law, Jerome de Villers, told the court it was hard to believe that his brother had committed suicide and that he hated drugs. The prosecution played the 911 tape and on the tape Kristin seems to have been administering CPR to Greg. According to the prosecution, Rossum killed her husband to keep him from telling her bosses that she was having an affair with the chief toxicologist, Robertson, and that she was using methamphetamine that she stole from the coroner's lab. According to Rossum's VONS card history, she had purchased a single rose herself. In November 2002, Kristin was found guilty of murder. On December 12, 2002 Kristin Rossum was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility for paroleParole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
and was taken back to the San Diego jail before she could be transferred to the Central California Women's Facility
Central California Women's Facility
Central California Women's Facility is a female-only California Department of Corrections state prison located in Chowchilla, California. It is across the road from Valley State Prison for Women. It is the largest female correctional facility in the United States. It houses the State of...
in Chowchilla
Chowchilla, California
Chowchilla is a city in Madera County, California, United States. Chowchilla is located northwest of Madera, at an elevation of 240 feet . It is a principal city of the Madera–Chowchilla Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 18,720 at the 2010 census, up from 11,127 at the 2000...
, the largest women's correctional facility in the United States. At her sentencing, the judge ordered Rossum to pay a $10,000 fine.
Recent events
In 2006, Greg de Villers' family sued Rossum in a wrongful-death suit and asked a San Diego jury to grant millions in punitive damages. It was also because the family did not want Rossum to sell her story to producers or publishers. The jury awarded the de Villers' family more than $100 million in punitive damages, twice the amount the family had requested. John Gomez, the lawyer for the de Villers family, said that the punitive award may be the largest awarded in the state against an individual defendant. A judge later reduced the punitive damages award from $104.5 million to $14.5 million.In September 2010 a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that Rossum’s lawyers bungled her defense at the trial by not challenging the prosecution’s contention that her husband died from an overdose of the drug. The judges said that the defense should have tested de Villers’ autopsy samples for metabolites of fentanyl, which the body produces when the liver processes the drug. If no metabolites were found, it would show de Villers had not ingested fentanyl before his death, refuting the core of the prosecution’s case, the judges wrote. Instead, it would have raised the possibility that the fentanyl in his system was the result of contamination at the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office, they said. An expert Rossum hired as she appealed her conviction said the extremely high levels of fentanyl in de Villers system were inconsistent with other evidence in the case. Two other drugs were also found in de Villiers at the time of his death, clonazepam and oxycodone. While they were not measured in amounts where each would be fatal, the judges said there was testimony during Rossum’s trial that when taken in combination the drugs multiply the effects of each other. If he didn’t ingest the fentanyl while he was alive, having the two other drugs in combination would provide an alternative explanation of de Villers’ death for the defense, the court said. All of Rossums appeals in state court failed so she then turned to the federal court.
On September 13, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals withdrew its opinion and replaced it with a one-paragraph statement that under a new U.S. Supreme Court precedent Rossum's petition was denied.
In popular culture
Rossum was featured in an episode of the Oxygen Channel true crime show, SnappedSnapped
Snapped is an American true crime television series that airs on the Oxygen Network. Snapped debuted on August 6, 2004 and is produced in conjunction with Jupiter Entertainment.-Synopsis:...
, in E! Entertainment's "Women Who Kill," on Investigation Discovery's "Deadly Women" and in CBS News 48 Hours
48 Hours
48 Hours may refer to:* 48 Hours , a documentary and news television program* 48 Hrs., a 1982 comedy and action film, starring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy* Another 48 Hrs., the sequel to the 1982 comedy/action film...
TV series: American Beauty - Was It Murder Or Suicide?, Caitlin Rother, who was interviewed for the four shows, wrote Poisoned Love, a book about the case: ISBN 0786017147. Another book was also written on this case by John Glatt, Deadly American Beauty: ISBN 0312984197.